Rubies & Sapphires Book 2: Onyx & Citrine
by Synica
Summary: Part two of the Rubies & Sapphires Books. Naruto has kept his promise to Kurenai and come back from the Jounin Exams alive. Pairings: NaruxKure. Minor HinaxShin, ShikxTema and possibly others. Please read the first book before this one. Closed.
1. The Date

**A/N:** Yo! I'm going to update the first part of the second Rubies and Sapphires part to get things rolling and then go on to the others. Unfortunately, one person PMed me to say he didn't want this made public, but he was too lazy to read the long AN, and told me to stop making them long. He even said it might be against the rules. How stupid. So, you don't have the energy to scroll a mouse wheel down several times, yet you have energy to breathe? That's got to be the most hypocritical thing I've ever read. You know it takes more energy to breathe than to scroll down several times? Not even Shikamaru is that lazy. Want to know this person's penname? It was Howardbrown2. Naturally, he's written no stories of his own. So you know what? I'm going to make an extra long A/N just for you. If you have something to say, have the guts to say it in front of others.

For those of you who're worried that Unryu Itachi was just a person I needed to be introduced for that part of the story and then forgotten about, don't worry. I don't introduce OCs and then forget about them. I have plans for him.

People who mention that any of my characters are Mary-Sue or anything of the sort will be instantly blocked from now on. When you say 'Mary Sue' you're not just labelling the character, you're also severely insulting the author. Go and read the Wikipedia definition of it. Mary-Sue is not a term to be thrown around lightly. You want to know something? I took a 'Mary-Sue' test for canon Naruto. The highest rating score was 50 or more, meaning the character is without a doubt a Mary-Sue. Know what Naruto's canon score was? 158. So I thought, hell, why not try a test for canon Gaara? Score: 167. Trust me, every single main character in the canon Naruto universe is a 'Mary-Sue'. And you call my versions of Naruto Mary-Sue? That's sad. How can you call my version of Naruto a Mary-Sue when the canon Naruto is so Mary-Sue he's off the charts? I even put all of his faults in there and **still** got that result. What's another 41 points going to change?

I've been thinking of a name for this new fic, and I decided to continue with the colour comparing theme. So, I decided to go with hair colour. The first one that came to mind was Obsidian for Kurenai. Going with the mineral theme, I wracked my brains for another mineral that is known mainly for its' yellow coloured variety. Now, this is where the problem starts. Can anyone tell me the name of a well known yellow mineral apart from gold that everyone knows? 'Obsidian and Gold' just doesn't have the ring to it that 'Rubies & Sapphires' does. So, instead I could use something like 'Bismutohauchecornite', but that would just look incredibly stupid. 'Obsidian and Bismutohauchecornite, Spec's newest addition to his NaruxKure story!' Sure, the story would be good, but the name would turn away half of the potential readers before they even clicked the link to open the first chapter… The only other option I could think of at the time was to stick with the colour theme and move away from earthy objects. And this is where I ran into the next problem. Yes, I could use 'star' to describe Naruto's hair, however, that's not an accurate term. Stars range in colour from the black/white of neutron stars all the way up to blue super giants. Yellow stars like Sol, commonly known as our Sun, are main stream stars, the most common type in existence. Naruto's particular blonde colour is unique in his world besides Yondaime. That's the first problem. I could use 'neutron star' as Kurenai's description, but that would imply she's stupid. Why? Because neutron stars are possibly the most dense objects in existence besides black holes. To give you an idea of how compact their atoms are, take a twenty kilometre wide city. Now, crush all of it into something the size of a marble. That's the scale of density that neutron stars are. So, I'm stuck with earthly objects again… And that's where I ran into the next problem. I went with precious gemstones and decided on Topaz for Naruto. Although the yellow variety of Topaz is not as valuable as the brown or pink varieties, it's possibly the most well known yellow variety of gemstone thanks to Diablo 2. The first one that came to mind for Kurenai was Onyx; however, Onyx is a semi precious gem, not a precious. The only precious gemstone that even has a black variety was diamonds. Now, when you think of diamonds, what colour do you automatically think of first off? Most of you will think 'silver/white' or something like that. Stupid thing is it's another example of people clinging to things they understand, labelling everything else as a lie. Gems come in a wide range of colours. In fact, there are practically no gems that come in one colour only. If I did decide to call this Diamonds & Topaz, people would spam reviews saying 'OMG damondz r whit, nub!' Even if they had used the correct spelling, they would have been incorrect. The variety of diamonds they are referring to are completely transparent when cut and polished, assuming they have no flaws. But just to see how many people are going to be stupid and say that, I'm tempted to call this fic Diamonds and Topazes. But black diamonds are not exactly… Pretty. They're actually rather ugly. I could use black pearls, but I'd have to shorten it to pearls or break the 'tradition'. Now, when I said pearls, if I hadn't said black before it, most of you would have thought I was talking about the milky white version. And then it hit me. The ultimate name. One that no one will make incorrect assumptions about. There was another mineral that I had completely forgotten about that's only colour was yellow. Citrine. So, I now dub this fic; 'Rubies & Sapphires Book 2: Onyx and Citrine.'… Corny name compared to the last one, but due to the fact people are going to incorrectly point out that my fic title is 'incorrect', I'm going to save myself the effort of reading their 'smart' replies.

Just a note, I don't know why I didn't realise this earlier, but after watching the latest filler, something hit me.You know when Lee/Gai open 3 or more gates thier skin turns red? There's actually a real reason for that. Alot of things in nature, especially plants, turn red when dealing with extreme physicalstress. For example, if a plant is doused with an irregularly high amount of solar radiation, it has a few choices. It can either shed it's leaves to deal with it, die, or turn it's leaves red.It's not the best solution, but it's not bad. I can't remember the exact chemical changes that take place or chemicals that are released that help reduce physicalstress, but it reduces stress on the body by an unusual amount for a 'simple colour change'. Can't explian the eyes though...

Anywho, the date in this chapter isn't going to be what the majority of people would consider a normal date. Yes, it will involve eating at a restraint, formal dress and all that. What it won't involve is small talk during the meal. One of the things I hate most is when people beat around the bush at a meal. They say things that to me are completely meaningless and shallow. 'It was fairly warm today for a winter's day.' That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. 99 percent of the time, it has no hidden meaning and makes the conversation in my opinion cold, informal and boring. This date is the way I would have it go.

Oh, and an offer I'm putting out to other authors. If you want something translated into Japanese, say any original jutsu names that you want to use in your fic, send me the English name and I'll translate it. I can't guarantee I'll be able to do all of them, but I will be able to do about 90 or so percent of them. Send me a pm with the ones you need and I'll get on it and send you a pm back with the results.

On a lighter note, I reached 500 reviews for the first part too! Sweet!

Comments/Questions/Suggestions:

**RevanLah:** No one save the people who create Naruto know for sure what they want. There's theories, yes. I even have my own, but we don't know for sure. Apart from the ones you mentioned, it's highly unlikely I'll put another Jinchuriki in here, canon or not. I can't remember the name for Nibi's container, but she's a kunoichi from Kumo. She's in some of the more recent Canon manga issues. As for Orochimaru's power coming from something other than a Bijuu, it mainly relies on some facts and a little common sense. Orochimaru is scared witless of Itachi. Now, if Orochimaru was the container for the Orochi, which people insist is the Hachibi, then even if the 'ring theory', which states that the members of Akatsuki were to absorbthe Bijuu that corresponded to the finger where their ring is located, Itachi would get the Rokubi. Now, logically, Hachibi is more powerful than the Rokubi, right? So why was Orochimaru so scared of him? There's no real answer to that. That's what makes me think Orochimaru gets his power from something else. Also, Orochimaru's Akatsuki ring was located on his left pinky. There was no 10th Bijuu, so that just supports my theory. Video game? Which one? Raiden 3 or Star Wars: Empire at War? Anyways, it was one of them.

**Shinobi's Fire:** True, good point. It's just that it seems strange that no one else seems to have ever been able to use Mokuton Jutsus from his family…

**GhostofKenshin:** Oh no, I have plans for Itachi. Not sure how big yet, but he's going to be… Around…

**dee-unlm1t3d:** Well, it helps that right now, the only things I have to do each day are look for a job and a place to live. That takes all of… 30 minutes to do? The rest of the day is mine to do what I wish. I spend the majority of it writing.

**a Foolish Writer:** You didn't happen to read the very next sentence did you? I explained it right there.

**obliviandragon:** The two dances he used were both versions of Omnislash. Gogo Cloud!

**fabarati:** Hmm… I reread that issue and in mine, Kakashi said 'Something **like** a bloodline limit.' He even said that Haku's Bloodline Limit was just a unique manifestation of the Hyoton. Still, we could argue back and forth for all eternity… Right now, I'm more interested in getting the second part up and running. As for who did which jutsu, Naruto did Odama Rasengan and Itachi did Dai Raikiri. I explained why Itachi was able to do it. Being Rokubi's container, who apart from the god of lightning, Raidon, had the best power of lightning, that would mean that simple activation of the body to produce lightning wouldn't be hard, especially in a tailed form where their chakra control is so perfect it exceeds anything regular humans are capable of achiving.

**ki master:** Oh trust me, Itachi's still in this story. He just won't be making an appearance 'in the flesh' any time soon. We'll still hear of him or from him. And I've read 'Team 8'. Damn fine fic. Went to my favourites by the end of the second chapter.

**SotF:** Diamonds and Emeralds? I understand Diamonds for the black variety, but I can't think of anything about Naruto that would have to do with Emeralds… Unless you were referring to the yellow variety of emeralds? Rubies & Sapphires were chosen for a reason. Namely, their eye colours… Still, I'd be interested to hear your reasoning behind the choices.

**halo2freak007:** Futatsu is '2'. However, that was '12'. It took me **ages** to figure out what 'twelfth' was in Romaji. I used google and it only had one site with it in Romaji…

**Dragon Noir:** Yo! Hmm, true, I could have done that… As for Orochimaru's attendant, It was Kabuto… Probably should have put that in there…

**Silver-Foxie:** Well, I'm going with the assumption that 1 tail of any Jinchuriki is 'even' with one tail of another. Sure, their power types and the way they use chakra will be different, but I think that their power levels would be equal if they had the same number of tails.

**Itallia:** They also said in the Chuunin Exam that with each match, you get more chances to impress the judges. I'll explain why they get promoted in this chapter.

**Aidis:** Ya, he's around somewhere. I don't introduce an OC like that without having plans for them.

**xxxxLostPuppyxxx:** Read the start of this chapter for the answer to both those questions.

**DreadCraft:** Hmm, well, Sakura's always been a 'Damsel in Distress'. As for Kurenai, she didn't stand much of a chance against Uchiha Itachi in canon, so I just put a bit of a twist on their fight to suit the story.

**ShenobiKageKitsune:** Hmm? I thought I said at the end of the last chapter that I was going to continue the story in a new fic…

**dragonmirage:** Yah, I don't like the rebels. Much. Empire FTW! Anyways, as for Jinchuriki's healing a broken neck, did you mean that you doubt even they could do that or did you mean shouldn't they be able to do that? If it's the former, then I think Naruto actually did that. Remember at the Valley of the End? After Naruto did the clone chain and slammed Sasuke into a wall, Sasuke used Ryuuka no Jutsu and then did that sickening move on Naruto? That would have broken any vertibrate's neck, Jinchuriki or not.

**The Demon King of Hell Kyuubi:** Need suggestions, huh? Well, before I give you suggestions, I need a few raw details about your plans for the fic. I'll PM you with the questions.

**makami:** Since you provided a theory as to why this wouldn't matter, that puts you a leap ahead of the others and takes you out of the 'baka' group. The others just assumed that it would automatically happen and called me an idiot for not putting it in there. You didn't miss anything. You just needed to follow your own logic a single step further and then follow it from there. The Genjutsu did indeed only incapacitate Genin and non ninja. However, these were it's intended targets so that there wouldn't be a stampede and make it much harder to fight the 'real ninja'. In a battle, a mob of people, even with no training, can be a serious threat, both directly and indirectly. If they decide to attack a target as a mob using the 'safty in numbers' theory, evena Jouninwould be distracted just long enough for the Konoha Jounin to kill them. Indirectly, they would stampede and most likely make it easy to take a wrong step and lose balence from a flailing person and the Konoha Jounins would definately use that opening to kill them. Basically, singularly, they're nothing. Together, they're a serious annoyance and threat. Especially the Feuadal Lords that were present. If they had killed the Feudal Lord of the Lightning Country, Kumo would make a temprary alliance with Konoha to crush Orochimaru. Which would be rather... Undesirable... For him. Also, people who can use such wide area Genjutsu sucessfully are rare. **Very** rare. Even including the fillers, I only knowthree people who can dowide area Genjutsu of any typeat alland another who should be capeable of it. One was Kabuto, another was Yoroi. Another is Uchiha Itachi and the final onewho should be capeable of it isYuuhi Kurenai.As for wide area sleeping Genjutsu, I think only Kabuto, Itachi and Kurenai are capeable of it, meaning that Orochimaru had no one to replace him with.

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed! And now, ladies and gentlemen, book two of Rubies & Sapphires: Onyx & Citrine!

Legend:

_'...Human or Lesser Summon Thinking/Small A/N...'_

_**'...Demon or Summon Boss Thinking...'**_

"...Human or Lesser Summon Talking..."

"**...Demon or Summon Boss Talking..."**

"...SHOUTING/TWO OR MORE PEOPLE SAYING THE SAME THING/CASTING THE SAME JUTSU..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&...Scene Change...&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Rubies & Sapphires Book 2: Onyx & Citrine:

Chapter One:

The Date:

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**The Day After the Finals:**

As Kurenai had said, Naruto had woken up the next day completely healed. Naruto was woken by the sunlight streaming in through his window. He opened his eyes groggily and looked around to see Kurenai there, smiling at him. Naruto crinkled his eyes into a trademark lazy smile.

"Ohaiyo, Kurenai-Chan."

"Ohaiyo, Naru-Chan."

Kurenai leaned in and gave him a full kiss on the lips, taking advantage of the fact that his face mask was on the floor next to him. Naruto was still half asleep and was not expecting this in the least. He quickly got used to it and kissed her back, slipping his tongue into her mouth and she did the same. After several minutes, both of them pulled back, breathing slightly faster than normal. Naruto remembered the final match and looked at Kurenai questioningly.

"What happened after I lost consciousness?"

Kurenai chuckled.

"The crowd were half expecting you to get back up **again** and keep fighting. However, the match ended in a draw. All judges agreed that both teams should be promoted to Jounin. The promotions will be done back in our own villages."

Naruto smiled and he remembered the damage that had been done.

"So, how's the stadium?"

Kurenai sighed.

"At least the rest of Suna is undamaged…"

Naruto smiled lazily as he put his mask back on.

"That bad huh?"

Kurenai nodded and the door to the room opened, revealing Tsunade, Shikamaru and Chouji. Tsunade smiled at Naruto.

"Good to see you're up, Naruto. All that people are talking about is the final fight between you and Itachi. Did you have to do so much damage to the stadium?"

Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"My bad…"

Tsunade dismissed it and checked his temperature to make sure he was ok. Naruto blushed slightly when Tsunade bent down to do this, revealing her ridiculously large cleavage to him. Tsunade may be 50, but the human body responds to what it can see rather than logic in some situations. The situation Naruto was in currently was one of them. Tsunade straightened herself, satisfied with Naruto's health.

"Naruto, we're leaving at sunset."

Naruto sighed and got out of his futon.

"I'm going to see Itachi."

Tsunade nodded as Naruto walked passed her and his team mates, who smiled at him which her returned and walked out the front door. When he stepped out into the busy street, everyone stopped their activities and stared at him. Not the stares he got until he was four. These looks held no malice or hatred. It held a mixture of awe, admiration and disbelief. Naruto smiled at them and raised a hand in greeting.

"Yo."

People nodded in acknowledgement and went back to their work. Naruto continued walking down the street until he heard a distant rumbling. He turned around to see something he had hoped never to see again. Fan girls. Naruto sighed and smiled at them before using Shushin to warp on top of a nearby building where he saw Itachi with a wide eyed expression. Naruto smiled lazily.

"Fan girls are a pain. Especially when you're already taken."

Itachi nodded in agreement and stared at the group of girls who were shouting and screaming out their names. Itachi turned to Naruto with a questioning look.

"I remember you telling me something about her during our talk in the first test. From your brief description, I'd say it was your Sensei."

Naruto nodded and Itachi smiled.

"She's beautiful, I'll give you that. I don't know what her personality is like, but I can tell you have good tastes. As one of my team mates would say 'nice catch.'"

Naruto chuckled as they sat there, sighing in relief as both of the groups of fan girls decided to move away to keep searching for them elsewhere. When they were alone, they dropped their facades and shared a mutual silence of understanding, with the occasional bit of meaningful chat. They stayed there until the sun was about to set and Naruto sighed.

"It's unlikely we'll ever get to see each other again with the relationships between our villages…"

Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"We'll have to change that, won't we?"

Naruto smiled at the implication. They both needed to become the Kages of their villages so they could try and patch relationships up. They wouldn't be able to see each other often, but seeing each other at all was better than nothing. Naruto became aware of two chakra signatures approaching from opposite directions. One Naruto recognised instantly as Shikamaru while the other one he recognised soon as Kinsuke, Itachi's team mate. Both of them hopped up onto the building their captains were on. Shikamaru sighed.

"Why do you have to make me go to the troublesome effort of bringing you back? We're leaving with the Godaime in 10 minutes."

Kinsuke nodded in agreement.

"We're leaving in fifteen, Itachi."

Itachi nodded and both captains stood up smiling as they extended their hands.

"I hope to see you soon, Naruto."

Naruto smiled lazily as he took Itachi's hand and shook it.

"You will, Itachi. You will."

Both boys split up, taking one last look at each other over their shoulders before they lost eye contact and went their separate ways.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**4 Days Later:**

The people of Konoha arrived back at their village gates mid morning three days after they had left Suna. The guards passed them through and everyone returned to their 'normal' lives. Early on the fourth morning, Tsunade called Team 8 to her office. She was fighting a losing battle against the monstrosity known as paper work as they came. She seemed glad for the distraction as she finished off a signature for a trade contract between Konoha and Kumo and looked up.

"Naruto, your **little** display of power during the finals has practically doubled our mission requests. I'm sure Kumo is in the same condition as we are. If it wasn't for the Kazekage threatening the construction workers of Suna by crushing various inanimate objects every time one of them mentioned Kumo and Konoha should foot the bills for the repairs, I would have you pay for it out of your own money."

Naruto smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. Shikamaru sighed.

"Mendokusei…"

Chouji smiled as he pulled out a bag of chips and began munching away. Tsunade sighed as she stood up and walked to the window, looking out over Konoha.

"However, that's not the reason I brought you here. Everyone of the judges agreed that both yours and Kumos' first two fights showed skill, leadership and team work, while the last fight showed you have more power than strictly necessary for a Jounin. The judges practically demanded we promote both teams, but I decided to use my own judgment."

Naruto knew where this was going and tried to suppress the grin that was trying to force its way onto his face.

"My judgment tended to agree with the others. I am now officially promoting Team 8 to the rank of Jounin."

Naruto smiled lazily as Tsunade produced the three jackets that were hanging inside a cupboard. Inside though, he was happier than he had been for quite some time. Tsunade handed Naruto his jacket which he accepted with a smile. Naruto took off his old Chuunin jacket and put on his new Jounin jacket. Tsunade gave both Shikamaru and Chouji their jackets which they swapped their old Chuunin jackets with. The three newly appointed Jounins were unsure as to what to do with their old jackets. Kurenai sensed this and smiled.

"Most people keep them for sentimental purposes."

They nodded and held onto them as Tsunade sat back in her chair and gave a lecture about what it meant to be a Jounin, their responsibilities and finally their rights. After the explanation, Tsunade dismissed them. Kurenai smiled at them.

"I'm proud to have taught all three of you. Now that you're Jounin, my job as your Sensei is done. Next time we work together, it won't be as a teacher-student cell, it will be as a fully fledged squad. To celebrate, we'll have one last barbeque lunch together. Meet up tomorrow at lunchtime at the usual spot, ok?"

They nodded and thanked Kurenai for teaching them for three years. Both Shikamaru and Chouji began walking home while Naruto and Kurenai began walking back to their apartment blocks. When they got to Kurenai's apartment block, she turned to Naruto who smiled happily at her. Kurenai enveloped him in a hug.

"I told you I'd come back, didn't I?"

Kurenai nodded as she let a single tear run down her cheek and whispered into Naruto's ear.

"When?"

Naruto understood instantly. When did he want the date. After a few moments thought, he knew he might not get another chance for a while.

"Tonight."

Kurenai's eyes widened but she accepted it none the less.

"Dress?"

"Formal."

Kurenai nodded. Either he'd prepared for this already, or he was going to try his luck again. One last question.

"Time?"

Naruto thought for a moment.

"6:30."

Kurenai nodded as she pulled down Naruto's mask and kissed him before she pulled away, smiling.

"I'll see you tonight, Naru-Chan."

Naruto nodded and watched as Kurenai closed the door behind her and went up the stairs. Naruto turned towards his own apartment block, thinking out a plan. He'd dug himself a rather large hole, but given the circumstances, it couldn't be helped. Naruto opened the foyer door and took the steps two at a time before opening the door to see Kakashi smiling at him.

"You've dug yourself a big hole, Otouto."

Naruto smiled sheepishly. He'd learnt long ago that Kakashi seemed to know things you'd rather he didn't, never giving a real explanation as to how. After the first few years of living around him, you got used to it. The only plausible explanation anyone had come up with was Kakashi employed a regular army of Kage Bunshins to scout the city for 'goss', but Kakashi dismissed that with one of his usual cryptic replies used when skirting around a secret.

"Yup."

Kakashi looked at him in an amused fashion as he pulled out two tickets to a rather fancy restaurant and smiled as he saw Naruto's eyes light up. However, Naruto's eyes narrowed when he remembered all the other times Kakashi had waved 'free' things at him. He would always want something of equivalent value in return.

"What do you want for them?"

Kakashi smiled. Feeding right out of the hand. He had thought of a million different things he wanted for them, and then some.

"Surprise me."

Naruto's grinned as he walked past Kakashi to his room and closed the door, going to the only secret stash he'd ever made that Kakashi had never found out about. Naruto walked to the third tatami mat from the far wall and formed several hand seals, whispering his jutsu.

"Fuin Kai…"

The edges of the mat glowed faint blue and then the seal vanished. It was a special seal that Naruto had invented that sealed the floorboard down and then had a secondary seal placed over the top to mask both its own and the seal below its chakra. Naruto lifted up the tatami mat to reveal what the majority of people would call their 'porn stash'. However, Naruto had this for a very different reason than just about anyone else who had one did. He did not use this for his own self satisfaction. Well, not directly. He used it in these sorts of situations for their 'trades'. If he left it unsealed or hid it poorly, Kakashi would plunder its' 'wealth' for himself. Naruto pulled out the top item, which happened to be an Icha Icha video. However, this was not your average one, or not yet anyway. It was a limited pre release edition of Icha Icha Tactics, the movie, signed by the director himself, the king of perverts, Jiraiya. Naruto replaced the mat and redid the dual seal before opening the door to his room and waving the video at Kakashi whose eyes lit up. He started shivering in unsuppressed anticipation as he made a grab for the movie. Naruto pulled it back out of reach and held out his hand, making a beckoning motion.

"Tickets."

Kakashi slammed the tickets into Naruto's palm and lunged at the movie like his life depended on it. Knowing Kakashi, Naruto was pretty sure it did. Naruto pulled it away again and Kakashi, who had lost all sense of reasoning and motor skills around this 'divine' piece of smut fell to the ground before Naruto chuckled and handed him the movie while he was still on the ground. Kakashi hugged the movie like he was a child hugging its' favourite stuffed plush toy. Naruto smiled in contempt and debated whether or not to take a picture and have it published. Naruto decided he'd teased the man enough so he pocketed them and smiled at Kakashi as he raised a hand and opened the door.

"I'm going to get some clothes for tonight, ok?"

Kakashi nodded, not taking his eyes off the video. Naruto closed the door behind and walked down the stairs. He may be a 'genius', but when it came to fashion sense, he was quite possibly the 'dobe' of his group of friends. Well, maybe except for Rock Lee. Naruto decided to visit the Yamamanka flower shop to see if he could get some advice from Ino.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**20 Minutes Later:**

Naruto pushed open the door to the flower shop and Ino who was serving behind the counter looked up as the bell rang when the door hit it to see Naruto. She smiled at Naruto. She'd long ago forgiven him for what he did to Sakura because what he did any other Shinobi should have done.

"Unusual for you to drop by, Naruto. What's the occasion?"

Naruto smiled lazily.

"I have a date."

Ino's eyes lit up and then her face set into a lecherous grin. Naruto sweat dropped. That grin always meant trouble when used by a female.

"Who's the lucky girl?"

Naruto smiled as he weighed his options. If he told Ino, the whole village would know by the end of the day. However, if he didn't tell her, she'd just pester him about it until he did, and then the whole town would know about it. It was a lose-lose situation.

"Kurenai-Chan."

Ino's eyes widened before the grin set in much wider than it was before.

"So, need some flowers?"

Naruto nodded.

"I also need some advice…"

Ino smirked and decided to rub it in a bit.

"The greatest genius to graduate the academy in 14 years needs some advice from me? I'm honoured."

Naruto sweat dropped. Girls were scary. He could see why Shikamaru feared them so much.

"What do you need?"

Naruto pulled out the tickets and Ino's eyes widened in disbelief.

"I need some advice on what to wear…"

Ino smiled.

"Advice won't do. We're going clothes shopping."

Naruto sweat dropped. This is exactly what he **didn't** want. He waved both hands in front of him nervously.

"No, no, it's alright, just some advice-"

Ino looked upstairs and called out.

"Mum, I'm going out for lunch."

"Sure thing, Ino-Chan."

Ino took off the apron and hung it on the rack before turning to Naruto. She smiled as she grabbed Naruto's hand and literally dragged him out the door. If there was one thing Ino liked more than gossiping, it was clothes shopping. Especially if it was with someone else's money. She dragged a hapless Naruto down the street, much to everyone's shock.

"Hey, stop! Let go of me!"

Ino paid no attention to her captive as she thought of several clothes shops to go to.

"HELP!"

"Be quiet! You should be thankful I'm even helping you with this."

Naruto decided to just sulk as Ino dragged him into the first shop and begin what Naruto would come to know of as the worst day of the last 11 years of his life.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**4 Hours Later:**

Ino strode out of the shop, quite pleased with herself. The door opened and Naruto stumbled out looking like he'd been to hell and back. As far as he was concerned, that wasn't far from the truth. How the hell does Ino have so much stamina for things like this but not when it really mattered, like on the battlefield? Ino turned around and smirked at Naruto.

"Now, all we need is some flowers."

Ino decided to have mercy on Naruto and let him walk along beside her instead of dragging him along. Naruto was pretty sure it had to do with the fact that both of his hands were full of shopping bags rather than having mercy on him.

'_Great… The shopping's more valuable than I am…'_

They walked inside the Yamanaka flower shop and Ino turned to look at Naruto, slipping easily into 'lecture mode'.

"Now Naruto, you can't just choose a flower because it looks pretty. Every single flower means something. For example-"

Ino picked up a single red rose.

"A bouquet of roses of this colour red means that you think she's pure and beautiful. If you picked a single rose that was in full bloom it would tell her that you have always loved her and always will."

Ino could see Naruto's blank expression of incomprehension so she sighed and put the rose back.

"Tell me what you want to tell her or compliment her on. Anything. No matter what you want to say, there's either a single flower or combination that will say it."

Naruto thought it over. There were so many things he wanted to say to her. 'I love you', 'I'll always be there for you' and so on. Naruto decided to keep it tame.

"Her eyes…"

Ino smiled as she turned around and pulled out 5 different coloured tulips before turning back to Naruto.

"A few different coloured tulips tells her that her that you think her eyes are some of the most beautiful things you've ever seen. Personally, I don't think I could have picked something better myself."

Ino walked up to the counter and checked down a list of prices and then punched them into the cash register.

"1250 Ryou."

Naruto sighed as he forked over the cash and Ino smiled sweetly.

"Have fun tonight, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and trudged out the door muttering a half hearted 'thank you' and tried to make it back home without collapsing halfway there.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**6:15 That Night:**

From the mass of formal clothes Ino had insisted Naruto buy, he had settled for a black suit with a white shirt and a blue tie that made his hair stand out as well as accentuating his eyes. He grabbed the bouquet carefully and waved at Kakashi who smiled at him.

"Have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do, Otouto."

Naruto smirked.

"Hentai."

Kakashi smiled lazily as Naruto closed the door and made his way to Kurenai's apartment. He opened the front door and walked up the stairs to her door. Steeling himself, he pressed the buzzer and waited. He heard footsteps from beyond and then heard the lock click and the door opened. Naruto had decided that it would be inappropriate to wear his mask tonight, and was now regretting that. He just caught himself before his mouth formed a perfect 'O' at the sight before him. Kurenai had straightened her hair so that it was now a solid wall of black. Normally, her hair had a certain unkempt element to it; however, her hair now was perfectly groomed and reflected the light from the lamp in her room like an obsidian mirror. She still wore the usual lipstick as well as the faint purple eyeliner. But what really caught Naruto's attention was her choice of dress. It was a pure black sleeveless one piece that complimented her hair and made her eyes stand out. It revealed a lot of skin, but not enough to be considered indecent. Naruto could see that Kurenai was having a rather similar reaction to his choice of clothing and silently thanked Ino for her suggestions. Naruto recovered and smiled at Kurenai as he handed her the bouquet of tulips, which she smiled at. Naruto really could not have picked a better choice of flowers. Kurenai had specifically chosen this dress to make her eyes stand out, and the fact that he'd said 'your eyes are beautiful' through flowers meant a lot to her. She accepted the flowers, which she put into a vase near the doorway and extended her arm, which Naruto took in the crook of his as Naruto led her down the stairs and towards the restaurant that the reservations were for. When they got to the door, the bouncer looked at them in an uninterested fashion.

"Do you have your reservation tickets?"

Naruto nodded and handed them to the man who gave each of them a brief glance before handing them back to Naruto.

"They're fine. Go inside and wait for a waiter to take you to your table."

Naruto nodded and led Kurenai through the doors and into a lavishly decorated classy restaurant. Naruto stood next to a sign that said 'please wait here for service'. Within 10 seconds, a waiter had approached them.

"May I ask which table you have reserved?"

Naruto smiled at him.

"Table 8."

The man nodded.

"Please follow me."

Naruto and Kurenai followed the man passed several tables to one that was unoccupied and extended a hand to indicate it.

"Please be seated. I will bring menus to you momentarily."

Naruto knew that Kurenai would take offence if he tried to pull her chair out for her. She was perfectly capable. He let her take her seat and then took his. The waiter came back with a pair of menus which he gave to them. He stood with a notepad and pen ready to take their order. Naruto looked down the menu at the rather exotic list of foods. He was mentally smirking as the stay thought of ordering ramen came into his mind, but dismissed it immediately. Naruto decided to go for something rather simple. The waiter looked at Kurenai.

"What would madam wish to order?"

Kurenai put the menu down and looked at the waiter.

"Could I get a Katsudon."

Naruto smiled slightly. He had been considering a Domburi dish. The waiter scribbled it down and turned to Naruto.

"And for sir?"

"I'll have a Tekkadon."

The waiter scribbled it down and bowed before retreating to place the order. Naruto knew they were supposed to make 'small talk', but that was something he was never good at. Kurenai smiled at the perplexed look on her date's face and decided to quote a part of one of his lines. She leaned forward and in a quiet voice that would not be heard by anyone except the two of them, spoke to him.

"Talk's cheap."

Naruto smiled at her as the waiter came back with a small plate of spiced bread and a jug of water to tide them over until their dishes arrived. Both of them went for the bread and went for the same piece, which was the smallest one there. Naruto's hand brushed hers and he went for another one. Kurenai blushed slightly at the submissive gesture from Naruto and took it. They both ate the pieces of bread in silence. Naruto had to force himself to eat slowly. He'd eaten fast ever since he'd gotten his first face mask at the age of five. Now that he wasn't wearing it, there was no reason to eat fast. Kurenai poured herself a glass of the water. Naruto did so after her. Kurenai made for a second piece of bread when Naruto extended his hand and rested it on top of hers. Kurenai relaxed after the initial shock and let Naruto hold her hand as he looked into her eyes with a mixture of emotions which Kurenai blushed at. It was a mixture of affection and happiness. Even though Naruto had managed to learn how to rein in his emotions, Kurenai still caught the fleeting look of love in his eyes. The waiter took that moment to arrive with their dishes, spoiling the moment. They separated as the waiter placed both bowls on the table in front of the person who ordered them and bowed before leaving. Both of them unfolded the napkin next to them to reveal an ornate pair of black lacquered chopsticks. They both muttered the same pre dinner prayer and then took the first bite of the food. For the price they were charging for this food, it was certainly worth it. Both of them savoured the taste as they continued eating their dishes. At one point, Naruto felt Kurenai's foot touch his and his eyes widened before he saw her smiling at him. Both of them finished off their meal and after a minute the waiter approached.

"Will you be having anything else tonight?"

Kurenai shook her head.

"We're fine thanks."

Naruto nodded in agreement and the waiter produced the bill. Kurenai reached for her wallet when Naruto pulled his out and paid the bill in full with a healthy tip. The waiter nodded and took the money and bowed deeply to them.

"Please enjoy your evening."

Naruto nodded as they both got up and Naruto took Kurenai's arm in his and stepped outside. Naruto knew that dinner alone wasn't going to be enough, so he decided to take her to the park. Naruto looked up at the sky. It was a full moon and not a cloud in the sky. Naruto found a bench and directed them towards it. They both took a seat and looked up at the sky. Naruto wanted to say exactly how he felt about Kurenai, but he feared that if he did she would say she didn't feel the same. Kurenai pulled Naruto's hands apart gently and interlaced her fingers with his. Naruto turned to see Kurenai was on the verge of tears as she spoke her mind.

"Naruto, I've known for a long time how you feel about me. When we first met, I thought you were cute. However, when I saw that your feelings for me became a crush, I was scared. Scared that you would turn out the same way he would, so I suppressed those emotions. When you fought Gaara in the Chuunin Exams, I almost couldn't watch in case you were killed. When I saw you at the Valley of the End, my heart died as I felt your life slipping away. I thought history had repeated itself. When you came back from your training mission, I knew it would only be a matter of time until you went to the Jounin Exams. The only fight I was worried about was the finals. I knew you would face the Kumo Team. When I realised you were going to fight with that much power, I killed my heart so that I wouldn't break down in front of everyone. Even for you, using that much power is life threatening. After the fight, it took all of my strength not to cry in public. You had lived passed the point he could not and kept the promise he had broken… I think… Now I can begin… To love again…"

To illustrate her point, Kurenai closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his. Naruto let a tear run down his cheek. This was the one type of acknowledgment he had been denied for his entire life, the one type he craved more than anything else… Love. Sure, Kakashi had 'loved' him, but that was in a sense a brother would love a younger sibling. The love Naruto was talking about was the love of a partner or a real parent. He would never be able to feel the later; however, he was still able to achieve the former. And now, he finally had. After a few minutes, they broke the kiss and hugged each other tightly. Naruto whispered into her ear.

"I'll never leave you unless you leave me, Kurenai-Chan. I'll always love you…"

Kurenai sobbed as she squeezed Naruto tighter and whispered the words she had considered taboo for almost 20 years.

"I love you too… Naruto…"

They sat there in each other's embrace for another 30 minutes before they separated. Naruto smiled as he kissed her again and then drew back.

"We should probably be going back…"

Kurenai nodded and stood, as did Naruto. They walked side by side slowly back to Kurenai's apartment. Kurenai turned to Naruto and gave him a hug and a peck on the lips.

"Thank you for tonight, Naru-Chan."

Naruto smiled at her and wanted to know one thing before he left.

"Ano, Kurenai-Chan… Are we…?

Kurenai smiled and gave him a kiss on the lips using her tongue before pulling back.

"Does that answer your question?"

Naruto blushed and nodded.

"Good night, Naru-Chan."

"Good night, Kurenai-Chan…"

Naruto watched as Kurenai walked up the stairs, leaving Naruto in a happier mood than he had been in since Kakashi had adopted him. Naruto arrived home, got out of his suit and crashed into bed, falling into a completely dreamless sleep, knowing that a hole in his heart had finally been filled.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**10 am Next Morning:**

Iruka decided to give his class an outdoor history lesson on the Hokages. He'd pointed to each Hokage and told his students a little bit about each of them. After he had finished talking about Tsunade's reputation as the world's best medic, one of his students raised a hand.

"Iruka-Sensei! Who's the Rokudaime?"

Iruka was about to make a joke about how he might be when a certain blonde haired blue eyed rookie Jounin walking towards the Hokage Monument, minding his own business.

"He's behind you."

Every one of the students turned to see Naruto stop comically mid step and turn to where all of the focus of attention was coming from.

"Nanda nanda?"

Every one of the students had the same reaction

"EEEEEEH?"

"He looks really lazy!"

"How can he be the Rokudaime?"

"He's only a bit older than us!"

Naruto smiled and walked over to where Iruka was motioning him to stand.

"Everyone, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Despite his… Laid back attitude… He's most likely going to become the Rokudaime."

Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"We don't know that, Iruka-Sensei…"

One of the boys smirked.

"I bet I'm stronger than he is."

Naruto smiled at him.

"Really?"

The boy nodded, completely confident in himself. Iruka sighed.

"Everyone, by the time Naruto was your age, he was as strong as me…"

Everyone's mouths formed a perfect 'O'. Naruto smiled lazily.

"It did help to be trained by 4 Tokubetsu Jounin from the age of four…"

Another boy called out.

"Why did you get special training?"

Naruto smiled at the boy.

"It's a long story…"

Iruka sighed and looked at Naruto.

"What brought you here today, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled.

"I was going to see my dad."

Iruka smiled but most of the children looked at him disbelievingly.

"No one lives up here!"

Naruto smiled at the boy who had said that.

"True. However, my dad died on the day I was born."

The boy instantly regretted what he had said.

"Gomenasai…"

Naruto wove it off.

"No problem."

Another girl looked at him.

"Naruto-San, if you're visiting your dad, why aren't you going to the cemetery?"

Naruto smiled at her.

"I don't know where my dad's grave is. But I do know where his monument is."

The same girl looked at him expectantly.

"Where?"

Naruto pointed over his head to the face of Yondaime.

"Behind me."

Everyone's lower jaws practically hit the ground when they saw what he was pointing at. Naruto smiled at their reactions. Priceless. Iruka smiled as well.

"To become Hokage, you have to be the top ninja in your village."

A boy in a tie stood up.

"Then I'll become Hokage! You have to be strong and cool, right?"

Iruka smiled.

"Not with your current grades, you won't."

Everyone laughed at the boy's expense except Naruto, who just smiled.

"There's something else you need to become Hokage that you forgot, Iruka-Sensei."

Iruka smiled.

"What would that be, Naruto?"

"To take care of those people who are important to you."

One girl called out to him.

"Important people?"

Naruto nodded.

"People you accept, believe and love from your heart. You have people like that, right?"

The girl nodded.

"My parents and although I hate him sometimes, my brother."

A girl with dreadlocks called out to him.

"Do you have important people, Naruto-San?"

Naruto nodded and smiled.

"My aniki, Kakashi, my girlfriend Kurenai-Chan, my Sensei's… And everyone in this village."

Everyone's mouths which had just recovered fell back to the ground again as Naruto looked up at the Yondaime's face.

"Just like you did, Dad…"

Iruka smiled with pride at his best student.

"You've really come far in two and a half years, Naruto…"

Naruto smiled at Iruka.

"Yeah… It's still hard to believe I only graduated two and a half years ago…"

Everyone was now in complete shock at this boy. One boy called out to him.

"How did you become so strong in two and half years?"

Naruto smiled at him.

"I had one on one training with one of the Sandaime's students, Jiraiya of the three Sannin for those two and a half years."

Another boy called out to him.

"Naruto-San, why do you wear a mask?"

Naruto chuckled.

"You guys are full of questions, aren't you?"

The boy tried to retreat into an invisible black hole.

"I didn't say questions were a bad thing. I personally think those who question things, especially things people take for granted are smarter than your average person. Why do I wear a mask? My aniki wears one, and I idolise him. I have other reasons that I'd rather not reveal…"

The boy nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer and Naruto looked at the other students.

"Remember this. People who do not follow orders are trash. Those who don't take care of their friends are not even worth the title of trash. They're much worse than that."

Naruto smiled lazily at Iruka.

"Anything else you need, Iruka-Sensei?"

Iruka shook his head.

"No, that's fine. Thanks for that, Naruto."

Naruto smiled.

"No problem."

Iruka whispered to him as he walked passed him.

"Nice catch."

Naruto smiled at Iruka and whispered back.

"Thanks."

Naruto left the students and his academy teacher there as he powered chakra to his legs and sprang half way up the Hokage monument and then the last half with a second leap, taking a seat atop his dad's head and looked out over the village he had sworn to protect with his life.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**A/N:** I hope I did the date scene well enough. Most of you guys seem to say that even if I doubt my work, it's better than normal, however, this is breaking tradition in my view… Well, I'll catch you all later.

Ja na,

Specula.


	2. Choosing Teams

**A/N:** Yo!

**Important Note:** Sorry about not updating the other fics, but I'm stuck with the others unless I do a **big** time skip, like a year or so to cut out the really boring bits no one wants to read. In the case of the Bijuu series, skip their year of training and shove them straight into the Chuunin Exams, or in the case of Living Behind a Mask, kind of allude to the training and meetings with other Nukenins as well as the occasional run in with Konoha, a surprise run in with the Suna Siblings and then get to the point where they're ready for Akatsuki… I'm still going on Rubies & Sapphires, but I'm getting an urge to write a new one. I really should stop reading new fics for inspiration, because then I find a good rare pairing that's never completed and decide to do it the way I think it should work. If anyone has any ideas on what to do with the Bijuu series and LBaM besides what I've mentioned above, I'd like to hear them.

Is it just me, or do 'bad guys' these days have a thing for having one particular fingernail being 200 times the length of the others? For example, in Bleach, the current head of the research department, the guy with the Soul Slayer that immobilises people, one of his fingernails is incredibly long. Another example recently is the guy in the latest Naruto filler arc, the guy with the yellowish skin, grey hair, black eyes with blue irises. He has one fingernail that's far longer than the others. Is it some sort of fad or something? Meh…

Also, I'm going to have to do a NarutoxTayuya fic. Why? There aren't any of them with over 45k words or any of them that are complete apart from possible a one shot… I can think of two ways to do it. 1: Naruto goes to Orochimaru as a 4 year old or so year old and gets a cursed seal. HUZZAH! Or 2: They rescue Tayuya after the Sasuke retrieval arc and go from there. Personally, I'm leaning towards the former so that I can balance out my 'Good-guy' Naruto stories with the 'Bad-guy' Naruto stories. Unless you guys specifically want Naruto to be a goody two shoes for that fic, I'll cart him off to Orochimaru. Personally, I think Naruto would be right at home in the Sound 5, as he specialises in barriers and seals, or does after the time skip when he's trained in them.

Questions/Comments/Suggestions:

**DarkPhoenix2500:** Unless they've updated the TOS or the rules and conditions in the last thirty seconds, there is no rule against long A/N or anything of the sort, so I will continue to write long A/N as I see fit.

**Dragon Noir:** Fan Girls? At 6:30 at night? That's… Going a bit far, don't you think?

**cutepuplover:** No, the flower meanings are real. The only thing I'm not sure about is the exact number of tulips for the 'your eyes are beautiful' thing. I know it says a bunch of different coloured ones, but is a bunch 2, 3, 5 or 20? That kind of information is pretty readily available if you look for it.

**DarkSov:** Is there? Mind pointing it out to me where I missed it after scrolling through the entire rules about 5 times? As for the tickets thing, maybe tickets weren't the correct word. Reservations would've been better. As for the 'corny' crap, I don't suppose you've ever lost a boyfriend/girlfriend? If you haven't, shut it. If you have, then you wouldn't be saying that. Don't judge others until you walk a mile in their shoes, but then again, 'ridicule is tribute paid to the genius by mediocrities.'

**Uwe Dirks:** Amber isn't a semiprecious stone, so I can't use it.

**Matt and T.K:** Yeah, he'll be back.

**Kin-Ryu Chikara:** Meh, I'm not really that smart. I understand a hell of a lot less stuff than I don't understand, if you get my meaning. As for how did I learn all of that… Well, like Naruto, I was an 'undiscovered genius'. However, school was boring and I never learnt anything from the teacher's meaningless lectures, so I taught myself at home. By the time I was 8, I was reading basic science books like 'how things work'. By 12, I was reading science magazines, and by 15 I was reading scientific journals. I just found them… Well, fascinating. Also, I didn't watch TV except for the few weekly science programs that were on, such as quantum, catalyst and more recently, new inventors. Even as a kid, I always loved Lego, and that turned into technic and that progressed into meccano. Eventually, by the time I was 15 or so, I was fiddling with real machinery parts. I guess that part runs in the family… My uncle was building fully functional motorcycles by the time he was 8. I built my first computer by the time I was 16 with no professional training or help. I'm still using that computer now, of corse with several parts replaced as they died. And I've always questioned everything. Most people think 'why is the sky blue' or 'why does it go red at sunset' but don't bother to find out. I actually did bother to go and find out. The vast amount of information available is far too much for any person to remember even a fraction of it. Anywho, enough of the boring details about my past.

**rantingmonkey:** Well, my writing style is meant to do that. I have a highly imaginative mind that literally envisions what people write in full 3D movement and colour. However, I tended to find it more enjoyable if people actually leave gaps and don't describe things in so much detail that it only gives one image. It may sound strange, but I like it when people give just enough description in order for me to imagine it happening in several different ways. That's what I aim for in my writing, to let those of you who have very active minds to see it as you want rather than me forcing a set image into your head.

**xxxxLostPuppyxxxx:** After that display of power, who exactly did you think was going to try and kill him besides Akatsuki? Nah, it's fine, he can reveal it safely.

**Monks & More:** She's a real character in the anime/manga. Not sure if they're dreadlocks, but they definitely look like them.

**GhostofKenshin:** No, no Genin Team. I'm taking Naruto down Tsunade/Orochimaru's route, namely, taking on an apprentice.

**Akira Strider:** I was planning on doing more Sakura bashing. I probably will next chapter after I release her from 'home arrest'.

**Systemchaos:** Is it a semiprecious gemstone? Citrine is, not sure about Amber though…

**HeeroYuyz:** I've checked all of my extensive official sources, and none of them say that. Even if they did, the skin changing red as a direct result of the amount of chakra released is only a half explanation It doesn't explain what the chakra does to the skin in order to do that, and it definitely doesn't explain the bulging veins or the eyes. Also, the first study of nature using the colour red as a stress reliever came out about the same time the Chuunin Exams were on in the manga… Kind of coincidental don't you think? No, that explanation is an incomplete one made up by fans. I'm dead certain that the 'red' is the body's response to the extreme amount of stress placed on it.

Legend:

_'...Human or Lesser Summon Thinking/Small A/N...'_

_**'...Demon or Summon Boss Thinking...'**_

"...Human or Lesser Summon Talking..."

"**...Demon or Summon Boss Talking..."**

"...SHOUTING/TWO OR MORE PEOPLE SAYING THE SAME THING/CASTING THE SAME JUTSU..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&...Scene Change...&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Rubies & Sapphires Book 2: Onyx & Citrine:

Chapter Two:

Choosing Teams:

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**Midday the Next Day:**

The former Team 8 met at their usual B.B.Q restraint for one last lunch together as a team. They pushed aside the banner handing over the doorway and walked in.

"Irashai!"

They waved at the man and took their usual table. After they had placed their orders, they turned on the grillers and waited for their food. Naruto and Kurenai were trying to keep their relationship as discrete as possible in front of others, so they settled for more… Under the table action in the form of a hand on each other's thighs. Kurenai let a slight smile tough her lips. She had no idea that Naruto would be this affectionate, especially in public. It might have to do with the fact that he never had anyone to be affectionate with his entire life and he was 'making up for lost time', as they say. Kurenai was brought out of her train of thought with all three boys staring at her.

"Kurenai-Sensei, Daijoubu?"

Kurenai snapped to attention and nodded.

"I'm fine. Just thinking..."

Both Naruto and Chouji smiled while Shikamaru sighed.

"Mendokusei…"

They smiled and looked up as the waiter severed their plates or various types of raw marinated meats. They chatted as they ate, laughing at each other's jokes. After 20 minutes, they had finished off their plates of meat and Kurenai decided to wrap things up.

"It's been a pleasure teaching you three. If you ever need some advice or anything, I'll be around. By the way, Tsunade-Sama asked for all three of you to report to her office this afternoon. I'll see you around."

The nodded and thanked her for her help over the years. Chouji apparently still hadn't had enough to eat, so he ordered one last plate. Naruto and Kurenai paid for theirs, while Shikamaru stayed to make sure Chouji didn't eat too much and end up in hospital yet again from over eating. Just as Naruto and Kurenai walked out the door, both Shikamaru and Chouji were acutely aware that they grabbed each other's hands. Chouji dropped his piece of meat onto the table.

"Shikamaru, when did they start dating?"

Shikamaru looked off to the side and gave an exasperated sigh.

"How would I know such a troublesome thing?"

They decided to let the subject drop for now and finish off the last plate before reporting to the Hokage's Office.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**An Hour Later, at the Hokage's Office:**

Shikamaru had just managed to convince Chouji that getting another plate would be 'troublesome' and they had left to go to the Hokage's Office. When the ANBU guard admitted them, they saw Naruto already standing there. Shikamaru and Chouji walked in and closed the door behind them, taking their places either side of Naruto. Tsunade kept a cool composure that most people would identify as her 'business' persona.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Akimitchi Chouji. Since you three have become Jounin, there are several choices about which area you wish to work in as a Jounin. You can either work as a regular Jounin and work towards gaining entrance to ANBU, work as a normal Jounin and complete regular missions, or you can take on an apprentice or a Genin team. You may switch between them at will, however, should you choose to apply for ANBU, and you will be required to stay with them once you are accepted for at least one year. I don't expect an answer right now, however, I would like one by this time tomorrow."

Shikamaru and Chouji nodded as they let themselves out while Naruto remained.

"Is there something I can help you with, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled. Kurenai had told him as they had walked to meet their team for lunch that this would happen sooner or later, so he had thought about it. After what Kakashi had told him of his time with the ANBU, Naruto crossed that off the list immediately. He definitely didn't want to have to deal with three hormone induced pre teens. His last two options were becoming a regular Jounin or taking on an apprentice. As a regular Jounin, he would be able to spend a lot of time with Kurenai while neither of them was on mission; however, all of the previous Hokages had either trained a team or an apprentice, so he decided that would be his choice. He'd still get to see Kurenai often enough if he did.

"I've already made my choice."

Tsunade looked at Naruto for his response.

"I want to be instated as a Tokubetsu Jounin and take an apprentice. However, the apprentice will be of my choosing."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"What makes you think I'll let you chose?"

Naruto smiled lazily.

"I'll fail every single one until you do."

Shizune sweat dropped while Tsunade sighed as she sat back.

"Fine. The latest group of Academy students will be graduating soon-"

"That's not what I meant."

Tsunade looked up at Naruto questioningly.

"Then what did you mean?"

Naruto smiled lazily.

"I'm looking for what Jiraiya-Sensei would call 'an interesting egg'. I want to be allowed to pull that 'egg' out of the academy no matter how far they are through the course."

Tsunade was on the verge of denying his request on the grounds of insubordination.

"Explain."

Naruto nodded.

"I'm looking for someone like myself at that age. Someone who has an unusual amount of talent but can't bring it out without the help of another. If I pick up that person when they graduate, the chance to develop their talent is gone because of their age. That's why I want to be able to pick that person out early and train them."

Tsunade considered that for a moment. It made sense; however, it was not exactly the most common practice. Hell, it wasn't done full stop. There was merit in it yes, as Naruto's case clearly pointed out. She sighed and rubbed her temples in an attempt to fight off the migraine that was threatening to settle in. The old geezer and hag on the council were going to have her head for this.

"Fine. I'll instate you as a Tokubetsu Jounin of Fuuinjutsu and allow you to scout the academy for your 'egg' I want you to tell me when you find it so I can arrange for his transfer."

Naruto smiled lazily.

"Thanks, Okasan."

Tsunade smiled. No matter how angry she got at him, she couldn't stay that way for long. Her relationship with Naruto had recently made her develop rather maternal instincts towards the young blonde, especially after the Jounin Exams.

"No problem, Naruto."

Naruto poofed out of the office, leaving a rather frustrated Tsunade reaching for her emergency supply of Sake as she continued her dreaded battle with the paperwork.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**5 Minute Later, at the Academy:**

Naruto decided he might as well start with a basic scout of the academy as the students left for home. Naruto instantly dismissed the students who ran up to adults that were obviously their parents and took their hands as they walked home. Most likely, his 'egg' would be someone who didn't have anyone to acknowledge them, which usually turned out to be an orphan. There were several children who did not meet up with a parent, but Naruto could tell that their parents thought they were grown up enough to get themselves home from the looks in their eyes. Naruto waited until the last student had left and found nothing interesting. Naruto's head shot up as he heard Iruka losing his temper at someone. And rather severely too. Naruto jumped out of his tree perch and used a simple Genjutsu to hide himself as he looked into the classroom where Iruka was talking to four young boys probably in their first year that could seem to care less about Iruka's rant. Naruto looked over each of them carefully, dismissing the first three after carefully scrutinising their body language. The fourth one, however, sparked his interest. The boy had a mop of untidy brown hair and seemed somewhat malnourished in fairly poor clothes. Iruka seemed to take particular interest in pointing out the boy's flaws, and although the boy hid it well, Naruto could tell it cut deep from subtle body movements. After Iruka had finished his rant, he told them to go home and started cleaning up his desk. Naruto watched as the first three boys ran out, laughing while the fourth boy trudged out and glared at the other three before walking to the orphanage. Naruto smiled. He may have found his first 'egg'. He poofed off to his house and decided to watch him for a few more days before reaching his decision.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**Three Days Later:**

Naruto had watched all of the classrooms every day. There was always a 'dobe' in every class, but all of them were the Dobe because they didn't have the potential to be more than that. The boy he found on the first day though, was a very different matter. The others pushed him round, bullied him and even played cruel pranks on him. By the end of the second day, Naruto had made up his mind. Naruto walked into the classroom after Iruka had finished. Iruka looked up and smiled.

"Naruto. It's good to see you. What can I do for you?"

Naruto smiled lazily.

"I'm interested in one of your students."

Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"Interested? In what way?"

"I'm not taking on a Genin Team. It's too much of a hassle to deal with three pre teens, so I'm taking an apprentice."

Iruka nodded slowly.

"You obviously have an idea who you want. Do you know his name?"

Naruto nodded.

"Fujiwara Akira is his name."

Iruka's eyes widened.

"May I ask why?"

Naruto smiled.

"He has the potential to exceed anyone who's graduated this Academy since I left. It's just that no one's bothered to realise that."

Iruka's eyes widened further but he nodded slowly.

"It's unfortunate… His family died when he was still a toddler. No one's adopted him yet."

Naruto nodded. He'd found the one he wanted.

"I'm pulling him out of the Academy."

Iruka practically face faulted.

"What? You can't do that!"

Naruto smiled lazily.

"According to the Hokage, I can."

Iruka didn't know what to make of this, which showed in his face. Naruto smiled lazily.

"He'll receive more of the kind of attention he needs than he could get here. I'm brining the documents tomorrow. I'll still bring him back for the graduation test, though."

Iruka nodded.

"I know you don't do things without good reason, Naruto."

Naruto smiled and raised a hand.

"Ja."

Naruto poofed out of the classroom and reappeared just outside the Hokage's Office to request the documents for the transfer.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**Next Day:**

Iruka was in the middle of a history lesson on the Kyuubi and how the Yondaime sacrificed his life to destroy it when Naruto made a rather flashy entrance in the form of a loud bang and a poof of smoke. Everyone flinched except for Iruka. Naruto looked at his former Sensei.

"I've got the papers."

Iruka nodded and Naruto handed him an official document with the signature of the Hokage. Iruka looked up at the class.

"Fujiwara Akira, you are being removed from the academy."

Akira looked distraught while the other kids laughed.

"I knew the Dobe had no talent!"

Naruto looked up at the boy.

"On the contrary, he has more talent than all of you combined."

That shut **everyone** up. The boy smirked at Naruto.

"How can the Dobe have more talent than us?"

Naruto sighed. He didn't have time to explain things to overconfident brats so he decided to show them by channelling a small amount of chakra. The chakra made the air hum and crackle, which the kids shrunk back at. Naruto stopped and looked at Akira.

"I know someone with potential when I see them. He's just never had someone to realise that potential and bring it out. Akira, we're leaving."

Akira shot up and grabbed his things and hurried out after his new instructor, acutely aware of everyone staring at him. After they got outside and a short distance away from the academy, Naruto stopped and took a seat on a bench, indicating for Akira to sit down next to him.

"You're probably wondering why I took you out of the Academy."

Akira nodded slowly. Naruto looked up at the clouds in the sky as they drifted past.

"I was like you once."

Akira's eyes widened.

"An orphan?"

Naruto nodded.

"I had the potential to exceed everyone that graduated the academy for the last 17 or so years. The only reason that potential was realised was that someone saw it and brought it out. Now, I'm this generations' Fuuinjutsu Master."

Akira's eyes widened even further and his jaw hit the floor as Naruto continued explaining.

"The reason I pulled you out is because I'm going to be training you one on one. The Hokage has approved of it. If I had pulled you out any later, the chance of brining that potential out would be lost. The only thing at the Academy you'll still have to do is be at the graduation test. By then, it'll be beneath you, but you have to do it for the sake of what we call 'red tape', or official reasons."

Akira nodded slowly, trying to take this all in. Naruto turned to him.

"Iruka was actually worried about you. The reason he pushed you harder than everyone else was so that you could try and catch up to them. However, Iruka-Sensei's methods aren't exactly… Helpful in that situation."

Naruto stood up and smiled lazily at Akira.

"I want you to meet me here at 8 am sharp tomorrow morning. We'll begin training then."

Akira shot to attention.

"Ossu!"

Naruto smiled lazily as Akira rushed to the orphanage, happier than he had ever been in his short life. Naruto poofed away from the scene to decide what to teach Akira tomorrow.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**Next Morning, 8 am:**

Akira turned up a minute before 8 to find no one there. He hung his head and was on the verge of tears. Maybe it had been a dream… Just as Akira's watch indicated it was 8am, Naruto appeared a few metres from Akira, who jumped back in surprise. Naruto smiled at him.

"Good to see you're punctual. Let's get started. Come on."

Akira nodded and followed Naruto through the streets to the training fields. Naruto chose a specific one that had been assigned to him. Training Area 19. Naruto led Akira into the open field and took a seat on one of the stumps there. Naruto smiled at Akira who took a seat in front of him.

"Ok, first things first. We'll start with introductions. I'll go first. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are training, my girlfriend as well as some other things. My dislikes are people who judge others by first appearances and label others because they can't be bothered to find out what they're really like. My hobbies are eating, creating new seals and hanging out with my friends. My dream… It's not so much as a dream as a personal ambition, but I'm aiming to become the Rokudaime Hokage."

Akira listened in wonder to this guy. He was fast becoming a personal idol. Naruto looked at Akira.

"Your turn."

Akira snapped back, glad for the attention was on him in a way that he was not the subject of torment.

"My name's Fujiwara Akira. My likes are training and eating. My dislikes are people who tease me and people who take things for granted. My hobby is pulling pranks. My dream… Well… I don't have one…"

Naruto smiled lazily at Akira.

"You'll find it, eventually. Well, I think we should get started. I think we should work on your Taijutsu to start."

Naruto hopped down and jumped back.

"Try and attack me with just Taijutsu."

Akira nodded and charged blindly in, trying to land a hit on Naruto who dodged them. At certain points, Naruto would call for Akira to freeze and would correct his stance in the slightest manner, such as turn a foot inwards, or move an elbow closer to his body. Naruto explained that by themselves, these changes would make little difference, but together, the change would be very noticeable. Akira nodded and tried to keep those changes in mind. By around midday, Akira could feel a definite change. It wasn't much but he just seemed to be able to flow through the moves with greater ease. Naruto could see Akira was only managing to stand upright by sheer will alone, so he called for a stop as he pulled out a scroll and produced two bento boxes. He handed one to Akira who was still trying to figure out where exactly Naruto had gotten them from while he took one for himself. Naruto smiled at Akira.

"You can seal practically anything inside scrolls. It saves space and weight. Here."

Naruto chucked a scroll to Akira who caught it lightly and looked at it. Naruto looked at Akira.

"How much do you think the contents of that scroll weigh?"

Akira didn't have the foggiest idea. It felt like the scroll was about one kilogram.

"One kilo?"

Naruto smiled.

"Closer to 500."

Akira practically dropped the scroll and stared at Naruto in incomprehension. How the hell did that work? Naruto sighed and went into the basics of scroll sealing.

"Scroll sealing is a very complex process. Using a special set of written characters in a certain order, an item can be turned into its' Kanji equivalent until it is recalled. For example-"

Naruto took the scroll back and opened it. He pointed to a Kanji that said 'food'. Naruto palmed the kanji and put a bit of chakra into it. The Kanji was surrounded by smoke and a packet of chips appeared. When Naruto brought his hand away and the smoke cleared, Akira could see that the Kanji was no longer there. Naruto lobbed the packet of chips to Akira who took them. Naruto smiled at him.

"Open them if you don't believe me."

Akira ripped them open to be assaulted by the smell of honey soy chips. He couldn't resist putting his hand in when Naruto shook his head.

"Eat your bento first, and then you can have the chips."

Akira nodded and dug into the bento box to find that the food was not only real, but extremely tasty. He wolfed it down, much to Naruto's amusement and then started on the packet of chips. Naruto looked in horror at the speed at which Akira was eating.

'_He could give Niisan a run for his money…'_

As Akira finished off the last of the chips, he looked back up at Naruto, clearly showing that he was still hungry. Naruto sweat dropped. Was this what it was like when Kakashi first took him in? Naruto palmed the scroll again and pulled out a packet of rice balls and handed them to Akira, taking one for himself. After they had finished, Akira seemed to be fairly satisfied when Naruto heard a rumbling in the distance. Naruto looked up with a blank look on his face as he saw a cloud of dust coming from a solitary black haired figure in a green spandex suit. Naruto sweat dropped. He really didn't need to deal with Lee's 'springtime of youth' speeches right now. However, Lee didn't seem to be able to tell that as he bowled Naruto over in his enthusiasm.

"Naruto-Kun! I hear about you taking on an apprentice! Where is this fine young man?"

Lee turned to see a rather scared looking young boy looking at him, trying to figure out what to make of him. Lee pumped a fist in the air and his 'fires of youth' flashed in his eyes.

"Yosh! What a fine example of youthfulness!"

Lee decided a close inspection was in order and peered at his face before his eyes exploded into flames of youth, scaring Akira witless. However, what startled him more was that an older mirror image of this green spandex wearing boy came out and saw Lee scaring this child witless. He charged in and gave Lee a massive punch to the face.

"BAKA!"

Akira was now unsure if becoming Naruto's apprentice was a good idea. Naruto squatted next to him.

"You'll get used to it."

Gai walked over to Lee and kneeled down in front of him.

"Lee… Omai…"

Lee got up to a seated position.

"Gai-Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-Sensei!"

Naruto slapped his forehead with his hand as they hugged each other and turned on the waterworks as they were surrounded by a strange Genjutsu that to this day, no one could explain. Akira looked at Naruto.

"Naruto-Sensei, what's with the waves and the sunset?"

Naruto groaned.

"I was trained by a Genjutsu specialist for over 7 years and I still don't know…"

Akira nodded slowly until he realised that the one known as Gai was standing in front of him.

"Lee has caused you trouble. Please forgive him for the sake of my face… This refreshing face, that is."

Gai did a nice guy pose as his teeth sparkled as they did when illustrating a point. Naruto and Akira face faulted. Gai's face was many things, but 'refreshing' wasn't one of them. Naruto recovered quickly due to the fact that this was a somewhat regular occurrence while Akira took his time. Once they had recovered, Lee looked at Akira and then Naruto.

"Knowing you, Naruto-Kun, you wouldn't take a boy this young as an apprentice without a good reason."

Naruto nodded and smiled.

"I have my reasons."

Lee nodded and did a nice guy pose.

"Akira-Kun, if you ever need training in Taijutsu, come to our training ground and I'll teach you our incredibly youthful style of Taijutsu!"

Akira sweat dropped as Lee and Gai turned and zoomed out of the training field to do whatever this 'youthful' style of training was. Akira looked to Naruto for an explanation.

"Who were they?"

Naruto sighed as he smiled at Akira.

"Despite all that talk about youth, they are possibly some of the strongest Taijutsu specialists in Konoha. The older one, Gai, was my Sensei in regular Taijutsu for quite some time. Their method of training usually involves insanely heavy weights and rather unusual methods to build up stamina."

"Like what?"

Naruto sighed.

"Running 500 laps around Konoha for fun."

Akira sweat dropped. He wasn't in any rush to do that sort of training. Naruto rolled the scroll back up and put the empty packaging to the side before standing up.

"Let's continue."

Akira nodded and got up as they restarted Akira's Taijutsu evaluation. Naruto made several more corrections, and wasn't surprised when Akira got them down first or second try. By the time the sun was setting, Akira was exhausted. Naruto straightened and smiled at Akira.

"Good work today. Meet here at 8 am again tomorrow, ok?"

Akira nodded and began trudging off, weary, but happy. Naruto called out to Akira.

"Akira, what exactly do you usually eat?"

Akira look perplexed at this question but answered it.

"They don't serve much at the orphanage, so I have to buy other things like ramen. That's really all I can afford."

Naruto sighed. Those bastards at the orphanage were definitely going to get it. Naruto looked at Akira sternly.

"Do all children get treated like that?"

Akira shrugged.

"Most of them get about what I do."

Naruto's eye twitched. This is how they treat orphans? They were definitely going to hope they had some good answers; otherwise they would be lucky if they were able to work again.

"Akira, are you lying?"

Akira shook his head, but the brief flash of emotions that appeared on his face was all the convincing Naruto needed.

"I'm going to talk to the Hokage tomorrow morning. I want you to meet me there instead of here at 8 am."

Akira nodded slowly before he turned and left. Barely containing his anger, Naruto went straight home and fixed himself a quick dinner before getting an early night. Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day for Konoha.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**Next Morning, 8am:**

Naruto was waiting outside the Hokage Tower when Akira arrived and Naruto led him in. The guards and clerks nodded at Naruto who nodded politely back at them. When he approached the Hokage's door the ANBU guards looked at him.

"Can I help you, Naruto-San?"

Naruto looked at the ANBU, his face devoid of emotion.

"I need to bring something serious to the attention of the Hokage."

The ANBU looked at the child.

"Any reason he's with you?"

Naruto nodded slightly.

"He's part of it."

The ANBU nodded and knocked on the door before going in. After a few moments, the ANBU came back out.

"Tsunade-Sama will see you now."

Naruto nodded as he led Akira into the office where Tsunade was finishing signing something and looked up. Tsunade noticed the barely constrained anger rolling of Naruto and adopted a serious expression.

"Naruto, what's so serious that you had to interrupt?"

Naruto's eye twitched.

"Have you inspected the orphanage lately?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Not first hand. The reports say everything's fine."

Naruto let his chakra flare as his emotions got the better of him.

"Fine? Define what they said was 'fine'."

Shizune had not seen Naruto this angry in a very long time. Neither had Tsunade, frankly. Tsunade pulled out the most recent report that the orphanage had sent to her and handed it to Naruto. Naruto skim read it and laughed bitterly before looking straight back at Tsunade.

"Not a single thing they said in there was true. Does Akira look 'well fed' and 'groomed' to you?"

Tsunade glanced at Akira and her eyes narrowed. He most certainly didn't. Naruto continued with his rant. Poorly treated orphans struck a very deep nerve with him.

"According to Akira, he receives just about as much care as the others do. I had to feed him a bento box, a packet of chips and a tray of rice balls just to keep him going after lunch on the first day of training."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed further.

"Are you aware of what you're saying, Naruto?"

Naruto smirked darkly at the hidden meaning.

"I'm aware of exactly what I'm saying. If you still don't believe me, ask Akira or any of the others from the orphanage."

Akira paled. He was going to have to speak out against those evil women called matrons? Luckily, Tsunade saw the look of pure terror and pain in his eyes. Tsunade looked back at Naruto.

"I'll look into it. However, judging by the look Akira gave at the mention of that, I think it would be best to keep Akira away from there for now."

Naruto sighed.

"I can't keep him at my apartment. Even if there was enough room, I'm **not** going to expose him to Niisan's… Hobby…"

Akira raised an eyebrow while Shizune and Tsunade's eyebrows twitched.

"What's his hobby, Sensei?"

The other three in the room sweat dropped. This was going to be hard to explain without either telling him the full details or avoiding it completely.

"You'll find out eventually…"

Akira seemed to buy that as Tsunade went back to figuring out what to do. Replacing the entire staff of the orphanage would be difficult to do, especially on such short notice. For now, she really only had one option left.

"Naruto, I need some time to deal with this. For now, we need to get Akira an apartment to rent until we can sort this out."

Naruto nodded. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. After they had discussed some other details about what could or should be done, Tsunade handed Akira a single key.

"That's the key to a new apartment. It's not much, but it's better than what you have now."

Akira took the key gingerly and looked up at the Hokage glassy eyed.

"Arigato gozaimasu…"

Tsunade smiled at him. He looked so cute like that… Tsunade shook her head and told Naruto to show Akira where his new apartment was and then dismissed him, saying she'd handle his discharge from the orphanage. Naruto led Akira out of the room and out of the Hokage Tower towards the address he was given. He entered the poorer area of Konoha and arrived at a rather dilapidated apartment block. He sighed as he went up the stairs and along a walkway before arriving at a door. He pushed the key into it and opened the door to a dark three room apartment. Naruto flicked on the switch to reveal a decent apartment. Apart from the fact that the floorboards were faded and badly needed repainting, it was liveable. Naruto smiled at Akira.

"I guess this is your new home. We'll come back here later, but for now, we have to train."

Akira nodded slowly until Naruto realised another problem. Akira's 'clothes' may have been alright for the academy, but not for this kind of stuff. Naruto definitely got more than he bargained for and was almost having second thoughts about taking an apprentice over a team.

"You need some new clothes."

Akira was trying to get his head around the fact he'd been given his own apartment, and now he was getting new clothes? Was the orphanage really that bad compared to what was 'normal'? Naruto led Akira back out of the apartment block and to his first stop for ninja clothing, the store Kakashi had first taken him to get his clothes from.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**An Hour Later:**

Naruto walked out of the shop with Akira in a new outfit. Just like when Kakashi had taken Naruto in there, the owner had treated the boy nicely, and had helped the boy get the stuff he needed, which ironically was a mirror image of what Naruto had gotten when he first went in there. The only thing Akira now lacked was a facemask, but Naruto wasn't going to get him one just yet. By now, it was almost 11am as Naruto took Akira back to his apartment to dump his new clothes and get something to eat, which Naruto produced from one of those oh so handy scrolls. They ate on the floor of Akira's apartment in silence. Naruto sweat dropped at the amount of food Akira was eating. He was really going to have to teach Akira how to make his own scrolls soon… After their early lunch, both of them disposed of the garbage and then left to train. Naruto sighed mentally. This was going to be an interesting several years…


	3. Birthday, Part 1

**A/N:** People, I know some of you are looking for more Sakura bashing in this story as well as in Living Behind a Mask. There will be more Sakura bashing in both of them, that I can promise. Also, someone asked if they could use Yukiko from my Bijuu series for their own fic. I've been scrolling through my seven hundred, yeah, that's right, seven **hundred** PMs in my inbox from Fan Fiction and I can't find it, so I can't remember who it was. If the person's still reading my fics, could they please drop me a line? I want to see if you've started it yet and how it's going.

Oh, and I believe I've found an image which will essentially sum up the plot of every single NarutoxSasuke Yaoi fic that has one in it's most basic form. Check my profile for the link.

There's no equivalent of Review Replies on Media Miner, so I will answer all Media Miner reviews in the next chapter of the story they are for. Luckily, reviews from Media Miner are somewhat… Rare compared to Fan Fiction reviews.

If anyone knows of the fic where Naruto has a bloodline limit that involves absorbing metal and he has a lion for a pet, please let me know. I **really** want to keep reading it, but I can't find it even using the search engine…

As a final note, people in your Personal Messages and reviews, I don't know what it is that compels you to, but for the love of whatever god you believe in, don't grovel! If you've seen Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail, remember when King Arthur saw God, and God ripped into them for grovelling and averting their eyes? I want to do that to you guys for exactly the same reason. The only problem is, I'm not god. Sure, I wouldn't mind giving the 'job' a try for the experience, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not. **Oh, don't grovel!... One thing I can't stand is people grovelling.** Sorry…**And don't apologise! Every time I try and talk to someone it's 'Sorry this' and 'forgive me that' and 'I'm not worthy.' WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?** Averting our eyes, O Lord. **Well, don't. It's like those miserable Psalms; they're so depressing.** **Now, knock it off!** Hahahaha, couldn't resist…

Thanks to my Beta, Kyuubi no Yoko 9 for making sure this chapter is grammatically error free.

Legend:

_'...Human or Lesser Summon Thinking/Small A/N...' _

**_'...Demon or Summon Boss Thinking...' _**

"...Human or Lesser Summon Talking..."

**"...Demon or Summon Boss Talking..." **

"...SHOUTING/TWO OR MORE PEOPLE SAYING THE SAME THING/CASTING THE SAME JUTSU..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&...Scene Change...&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& **

Rubies & Sapphires Book 2: Onyx & Citrine:

Chapter Three:

Birthday, Part 1:

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& **

**Next Morning:**

Naruto rolled over in his sleep, enjoying a particularly lewd dream that involved Kurenai, himself and a can of whipped cream. He was just getting to the good part when he heard a strange sniggering noise. He ignored it and focused on his dream. The sniggering noise came again and the dream started to unravel.

"No… I still have to eat it…"

The dream finished and Naruto groaned as he slowly opened his eyes to see Kakashi leaning against the doorway of his room and lapping up Naruto's dreamy expression. Naruto stared at him.

"You better have a good reason for waking me up, Niisan."

Kakashi smiled lazily, hiding his glee.

"So, you do have perverted thoughts after all…"

Naruto blushed heavily as Kakashi chuckled at him.

"Whipped cream, eh? I have to say, sounded like fun…"

Despite himself, Naruto got a nosebleed at the memories of the dream. Kakashi smiled at him again.

"I bet Kurenai would love to hear about that…"

Naruto froze.

_'He wouldn't dare…'_

Kakashi kept smiling as he turned to leave when Naruto got an idea.

"I guess the world wouldn't mind hearing about how the great copy ninja Kakashi, master of over 1000 jutsus loses all sense of logical thought and motor skills when in the presence of the latest Icha Icha novel or movie and then treats it like the child he never had once he gets it."

Kakashi stopped as he heard that. Everyone knew he read the perverted novels in public, but Naruto was probably the only one who knew about it to that extent. Kakashi hung his head in defeat.

"You're evil, Otouto."

Naruto smiled lazily as he wiped the blood from his nose and put his mask on.

"Can you blame me for the occasional perverted thought or dream about her?"

Kakashi couldn't even if he tried. She was smart, very strong in her chosen area of jutsus and most of all drop dead gorgeous. Naruto took the shrug as a 'no' and then got out of bed to get dressed. He thought over what he had to do today as he pulled on his regular ninja attire.

_'Let's see, apart from the obvious of training Akira, I wouldn't mind spending some time with Kurenai-Chan…' _

Naruto pulled on his Jounin flak jacket and zipped it up. He walked out of his bedroom and into the kitchen to start preparing food for breakfast. While he pulled out a pair of frypans and got some bacon rashers and eggs out of the fridge, he looked at the pile of mail that was in its' usual place on the counter. After he covered the pans with oil and turned the heat on for one pan, he sifted through the bane of most people's existence.

"Bill, bill, bill, ads, letter from Unryu Itachi, bill- WHAT?"

Naruto went back one and saw that it was indeed a letter from his friend. He ripped it open and pulled the letter out. He completely ignored breakfast in favour of finding out about his friend.

_'Hey Naruto. Sorry for not sending a letter sooner, but there aren't any mail routes between Kumo and Konoha anymore because the Rice Field Country is blocking all mail between us. I eventually found out about this group of ninjas that have become mail deliverers. They're called courier ninjas. They deliver mail faster than express mail and they will fight to make sure the mail reaches its' destination safely if necessary. How are you? I'd assume you made it to Jounin along with your team, much like we did. I've already taken on an apprentice by the name of Rei. Our Raikage is apparently considering retiring soon from old age. Word has it that he's considering me for his replacement. I've been pestering him for a mission that involves Konoha ever since I got back. He may be old, but he knows what I'm hoping to achieve and is all for it. If you want to send a reply message, ask for a courier ninja. They're a bit more expensive, but it's worth it. Hope to talk to you soon. _

_Unryu Itachi.'_

Naruto smiled. His friend had kept the promise he had made and kept in contact. Naruto looked up and sighed. He turned back to find the fry pan was at the right temperature to start breakfast. He pulled out the 12 rashers of bacon and threw them into the pan, watching them pop and sizzle in the burning oil. Naruto turned down the heat so the oil didn't spray everywhere while he cooked. Kakashi wondered in and took a seat at the table, pulling out his little orange book. Naruto turned the heat on for the second fry pan and waited for it to warm up. While reading, he made a casual observation of his adopted brother.

"You seem rather happy, Naruto."

Naruto smiled at Kakashi over his shoulder.

"Itachi sent a letter."

Judging by Naruto's expression, it wasn't Uchiha Itachi he was talking about. Kakashi smiled.

"How is he?"

"He's good. Like me, he's been promoted and taken on an apprentice, a girl by the name of Rei."

Kakashi nodded and turned back to his book as Naruto cracked six eggs into the second fry pan which was now the right temperature for cooking. After flipping the eggs and the bacon over once, he turned the heat off and separated the pan's contents, putting them onto two plates before bringing them to the table. Kakashi took his plat and they both said the usual pre-meal prayer.

"Itadakimasu."

Within several seconds, the plates were clean of food. Kakashi smiled at Naruto as he got up, taking the plates to the sink.

"Tasty as always, Naruto."

Naruto smiled lazily at the compliment. He stood up and checked his watch. 5:34 am. He still had a bit of time left before he had to see Akira. He waved at Kakashi as he headed for the door.

"I'm going out, Niisan."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't."

Naruto shook his head at the jab. Kakashi knew exactly where Naruto was going and had made a jab at the attempt to hide the 'I'm going to see my girlfriend' remark.

"I wouldn't do half the things you would do, let alone the one's you wouldn't."

Kakashi chuckled as Naruto closed the door and took the stairs two at a time. He walked out the front door and into the early morning sunlight. It was a Wednesday, so if he knew Kurenai well enough, she'd be getting the weekly groceries right about now. Naruto walked towards the local supermarket where everyone in the area got their regular supplies, as well as just about every ninja in the village. The store regularly opened early because many ninjas didn't have a lot of time during the day to shop because of missions. Naruto walked in through the front door and waved at the old lady running the front counter. Naruto stopped for a moment and focused. Sure enough, he could sense Kurenai's chakra signature not to far away and headed in that direction.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& **

**Several Isles Away:**

Kurenai was currently deciding whether to get Dango or Natto and sweats when she felt arms encircle her waist. She smiled as whoever it was stopped suppressing their chakra.

"Morning, Kurenai-Chan."

"Morning, Naru-Chan."

Naruto leant his head on her shoulder while she turned her head towards his face and pulled his mask down so they could share a kiss. Naruto pulled back and raised his mask to cover his face; smiling at her while she raised an eyebrow.

"Finding me here wasn't coincidental, was it?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I know you shop on Wednesday mornings at around 6:30. Need a hand?"

Kurenai smiled at the gesture but shook her head.

"No, I'm just deciding on what to get here and then I'm done…"

Naruto nodded and watched her decide. He'd found out quite some time ago that suggesting which sweats a woman should buy usually ended up in what Shikamaru would describe as a troublesome situation. Finally, Kurenai decided on Natto and sweats. Naruto stepped back to allow her to walk down the isle to the counter at the front, keeping pace with her. The old lady smiled at them.

"I haven't seen a couple like you in quite a few years."

Naruto smiled slightly while Kurenai blushed as she put the basket of groceries onto the counter. The old lady punched several numbers in for each item and then put them into a large paper bag. After the last item, she looked at the cash register's display.

"That's 16,937 Ryou, dear."

Kurenai nodded as she pulled out a bunch of notes and several coins from her wallet, and handed the money to the woman. She pressed a button and the cash draw opened. She separated the notes and the coins, pulling out three coins and handing them to her with a smile on her face.

"Take care of yourselves."

They nodded and left the store. Naruto froze momentarily when he could have sworn he heard a 'nice catch' from behind him. He looked turned around and looked at her to see her scribbling some things onto a list of produce, and could have sworn she was smirking ever so slightly, even with her back turned to him. Kurenai stopped and looked at Naruto.

"Something wrong?"

Naruto shook his head and turned to face her.

"No, it's nothing."

Kurenai nodded and they turned back to walk to her apartment. Naruto definitely could feel the old lady's eyes on the back of his head. He dismissed it as he took Kurenai's free hand in his. Once they walked the few short blocks to her apartment and up the stairs. Kurenai opened the door of her apartment. Naruto had known a while ago that it was practically the same design as his own, since this entire sector of Konoha had been designed by the same person. Kurenai went into the small kitchen and placed the bag on the counter. Naruto immediately helped unpack the foodstuffs. Once they had finished Naruto realised the situation. He was in his girlfriend's apartment, just the two of them, with neither of them having anything to do for at least two hours. The dream from this morning came back and he had to mentally stamp it out or risk ruining his mask with a nose bleed. Kurenai seemed to notice as well. She did a good job of hiding it though as she walked over to the couch and sat down, Naruto sitting next to her, leaning his head on her shoulder. She smiled slightly as she looked at Naruto.

"Have I told you why I love you?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this strange question. She hadn't told him, so naturally, he was interested. He shook his head.

"You have all the best physical features of Kakashi, Jiraiya and Arashi, as well as the best parts of their personalities, with none of the bad parts."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this.

"The pervertedness and womanising?"

Kurenai nodded.

"I also had somewhat of a crush on your father when we were younger…"

Naruto sighed as he looked downcast for a moment.

"So I'm just a repl-"

"No."

Naruto looked up to see Kurenai glaring at him. Her features softened as she hugged him.

"While Arashi had the majority of the qualities I wanted in a man, he was still a pervert."

Naruto's eyes widened at this.

"My dad was a pervert?"

Kurenai chuckled as she nibbled on his earlobe, sending shivers through Naruto's body.

"He sure was. It seems even he was corrupted by Jiraiya. After I found out, I got over my crush soon enough. Naruto, you are not a replacement for anyone. The crush was just that; A crush. Like most girls in my age group, I got over the crush on Arashi. I love you for who you are, not who you resemble."

Naruto smiled as she pulled down his mask and pulled him to her, lips meeting. Naruto unconsciously placed a hand around her lower back and another around her upper back, pulling her onto him. She slipper her tongue into his mouth and he replied in kind. After several minutes, Naruto pulled back, his lower lip tugging slightly on hers as they parted. Kurenai smiled as she hugged Naruto.

"I love you, Naruto."

Naruto smirked as he thought up a particularly cheesy line his aniki would use in this situation.

"I love me too, Kurenai-Chan."

Kurenai playfully hit him on the arm and gave him a look of mock annoyance.

"Baka."

Naruto chuckled as he pulled her back into the hug.

"I meant I love you too, Kurenai-Chan."

Kurenai smiled.

"That wasn't so hard to say, was it?"

Naruto shook his head slightly, giving Kurenai an indication of his answer. Naruto smiled as he remembered the events of that morning.

"I got a letter from Itachi."

Kurenai's eyebrows rose but then she closed them as she kissed his temple. She whispered to him.

"How is he?"

Naruto replied in the same whisper.

"He's doing fine. He's been promoted and taken on an apprentice like me. He said he's been trying to get a mission somewhere around Konoha."

Kurenai nodded. Itachi was very different from most Kumo Nins. Most of them were told to hate Konoha and they did, not knowing the reason why, not that there really was a legitimate one. Itachi, on the other hand, had no such preconceptions from what she could tell. It seems that being a Jinchuriki gave one a lot of patience and the ability to reserve judgment for when it was needed and not given out left right and centre like the majority of people did. Naruto pulled back and leaned up against the couch's backrest while Kurenai leaned her head on his shoulder. They stayed in that position for almost fifteen minutes, content with the comfortable silence. Naruto eventually leaned his head over and kissed the top of her head while brushing his hand over part of her hair in a gentle, repetitive motion.

"Are you doing anything in the near future, Kurenai-Chan?"

Kurenai shook her head.

"Not unless an emergency comes up. I'm not going to take on another Genin Team. You three were a handful."

Naruto chuckled as he kissed the top of her head again.

"Can you say it wasn't worth it though?"

Kurenai smirked at the implication.

"It was definitely worth it."

Both of them stayed like that for a moment before Naruto heard some distant rumbling. He paled.

"Oh no…"

Kurenai looked up at Naruto's expression and then heard the noise as well. She slapped her hand to her forehead.

"Why now?"

They heard a crash and the rumbling increased dramatically in volume.

"Whatever he says, just ignore it…"

Kurenai nodded in agreement and sat back just as the door to her apartment burst open to reveal a somewhat passionate Gai and his younger pupil screaming in their faces.

"What's this I hear about my eternal rival's adopted brother doing something incredibly unyouthful with such a charming young woman such as Kurenai-San?"

The entire apartment complex vibrated with Gai's roaring and Naruto wouldn't be surprised if he had woken up all of Konoha and possibly more. Naruto looked at Gai and pointed to the clock on the wall one Gai had stopped his rant.

"Gai-Sensei, do you know what that is?"

Gai looked where Naruto pointed and then back at him.

"Of course, Naruto-Kun! It's a clock!"

Naruto nodded.

"Indeed it is. And can you read what time it is?"

Gai looked back at the clock.

"It is currently 3 minutes past six on this fine Wednesday morning!"

Naruto nodded again. Apparently, Gai still wasn't getting the point.

"And do you know what the majority of Konoha would be trying to do at this time on Wednesday morning?"

Gai got into his 'deep thinking pose', which consisted of him putting his hand on his chin and tilting over comically, letting out a 'hmmmmm' as he did so.

"Hmmmmmm, that is a truly difficult question, Naruto-Kun."

Naruto gritted his teeth.

"It's actually remarkably simple. It's called sleeping."

Lee looked from Naruto to his Sensei.

"Sleeping? At this time of the morning?"

Naruto nodded, barely containing himself from smashing these two over the head.

"Yes, unlike you, most people enjoy sleeping. In fact, the majority of them do something called 'sleeping in' whenever they get the chance."

Naruto's copious amount of sarcasm was completely lost on the green spandex duo.

"Sleeping in?"

Naruto nodded. Kurenai could see his fingers twitching, which was a very bad sign.

"Yes, sleeping in. The majority of humans enjoy sleeping because it is relaxing. People tend to get very, very angry and somewhat violent when they are forced to wake up, especially if it's much earlier than they have to."

Naruto saw Lee pull out that horrid green note book and began scribbling this down. Once he had finished, he looked back up at them to find that they were shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Is something wrong, Naruto-Kun? Kurenai-San?"

"Do you realise how loud you were when you came in here?"

Clearly, neither of them thought it was a problem, so Kurenai glared at them.

"You were loud enough that this entire building was literally vibrating from the volume. It's extremely unlikely that any person within a 500 kilometre radius of this apartment did not hear you. Think for a moment. How many people are there in any direction within five hundred kilometres of here?"

Gai nodded as he vaguely estimated.

"Many thousands."

Kurenai nodded.

"Considering that about 90 percent of them were trying to sleep at that time and were forced awake by your level of volume, combined with the fact that they will now most likely attempt to kill the thing that awoke them, do you realise your situation?"

Realisation was indeed starting to dawn on the pair. Naruto looked out the window to see that a mob with makeshift weapons was forming and smiled.

"I suggest you start running. They don't look happy."

Gai turned to Lee with a nervous smile on his face before pointing in the direction of the rising sun.

"Lee! We must see this as a training exercise! We shall outrun the villagers! If we fail, we will do 100 laps around Konoha on our hands!"

"OSSU!"

Naruto smiled as they turned to leave.

"Just a warning, but people seem to be able to find some sort of hidden power when they are forced awake this early. All of that power is focused on destroying the object that awoke them. Good luck. You'll need it."

Gai smiled as they charged out the door and down the stairs, Lee hot on his tail. Once they flew out the doors, Naruto and Kurenai got a sense of grim satisfaction when they heard the mob notice them and begin the hunt.

"THERE THEY ARE! GET THEM!"

"YEAH!"

Naruto sighed.

"They spoilt the mood…"

Kurenai nodded in agreement. She was somewhat satisfied that both Gai and Lee were now running for their lives. Kurenai's eyebrows knitted as she remembered the first thing Gai had said.

"Knowing Gai, 'unyouthful' consists of either perverted actions or committing crimes…"

Naruto froze when he remembered what had transpired this morning and put two and two together.

"Kakashi, when I get my hands on you, you will die."

Kurenai looked at Naruto with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Kakashi doesn't spread false information…"

Naruto looked at Kurenai to see she was expecting an answer. Naruto sighed and sat back.

"He doesn't spread false information, but I can guess what happened… I don't think you'll like it though…"

Kurenai's eyebrows narrowed.

"I'll be the judge of that."

Saying Naruto was uncomfortable was an understatement. Admitting personal fantasies about your girlfriend to her face was by no stretch of the imagination an easy thing to do.

"Well, this morning I had somewhat of a… Perverted dream about us…"

Kurenai raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

Naruto put his head in his hands. He did not like this at all.

"It involved us and…"

Naruto really didn't want to say what came next but Kurenai would get this out of him one way or another.

"And?"

"Acanofwhippedcream."

Kurenai managed to catch it and blushed at the thought. Naruto recovered, the somewhat embarrassing part of it over.

"Niisan happened to hear me sleep talking and mused if you wanted to hear about it. I thought I had shut him up by threatening to tell everyone about the extent of his pervertedness. He must have either muttered it to himself or said it directly to Gai, who only heard half of it and took action…"

Kurenai sighed…

"And now the majority of the Fire Country knows indirectly about it…"

Naruto nodded as a particularly sweat idea came into his head and he smiled.

"Perfect…"

Kurenai saw Naruto's grin and raised an eyebrow. Naruto turned to Kurenai.

"We need to find Gai."

Kurenai looked at him in a deadpanned expression that screamed 'why'.

"We'll use him the same way Kakashi just used him against us."

Kurenai's eyebrows rose before she smiled. Both of them got up and closed the door behind them as they took the stairs two at a time and out onto the streets. They looked around to see a cloud of smoke being raised with a much larger cloud not far behind them. Naruto sighed and started after them. It seemed they'd already done something with a slight resemblance to a lap of Konoha. Kurenai was directly by his side as they sped up. Luckily, both Lee and Gai still had their weights on, which made this much easier to catch up to them. The couple drew level with the rest of the group before pulling ahead of them. Lee looked back over his shoulder and saw two of the pack pull away.

"Gai-Sensei! They're catching up!"

Gai looked back and saw that two of them were indeed catching up. However, he didn't see that they were Naruto and Kurenai.

"Indeed they are, my adorable Lee. If we wish to complete this training, we must increase our speed! I'm making an exception to rule number 1!"

Lee gasped as they kept running.

"Demo, Gai-Sensei! I thought Rule One stated that it could not be broken unless protecting many important people!"

"I don't care! I will allow it!"

Lee smiled as he reached down to his orange leg warmers.

"Oh no…"

Naruto called out to them.

"Gai-Sensei! Lee! Matte!"

They both looked back to See that the pair was actually Naruto and Kurenai. They slowed down slightly for a moment before remembering what was behind them. However, it was enough for Naruto and Kurenai to fall in behind them. Naruto looked at Gai and began his plan.

"Gai-Sensei, I'm somewhat upset with Aniki…"

Gai and Lee, being the somewhat 'innocent' gullible people they were looked at Naruto questioningly.

"And why would that be, Naruto-Kun?"

Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"Kakashi-Niisan treats his Icha Icha movies and novels better than he treats me…"

Kurenai had to suppress her full blown laughter as Naruto's plan was put into action. It was clever, she'd give him that.

"How so, Naruto-Kun?"

"When he gets a new one, he hugs it like the child he never had…"

Gai gasped in shock.

"My eternal rival would do something like that? How unyouthful! I shall defeat him with my fists of love! He shall accept the influence of justice and weep! Lee! Remove the weights! We have to stop my unyouthful rival!"

"OSSU!"

Both of them took their weights off and dropped them before emitting a sonic boom from breaking the sound barrier as they sped off to find Kakashi. Naruto and Kurenai slowed down and let the essentially rabid villagers storm passed them after the current objects of their hatred. Naruto waited as he started counting down.

"7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…-"

"KAKASHI MY ETERNAL RIVAL, WHAT IS THIS I HEAR ABOUT YOU TREATING YOUR VERY UNYOUTHFUL COLLECTION OF LITERATURE WITH MORE CARE THAN YOU TREAT YOUR ETERNALLY YOUTHFUL OTOUTO? EH? PLEASE ANSWER ME!"

Naruto decided that breaching etiquette this once would be acceptable given the circumstances, and fell over laughing as everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and stare in the general direction of the booming voice in various forms of amusement, shock and the majority of the female population, horror. Kurenai couldn't help but laugh either. It was somewhat cruel to use Gai's naivety against him, but if Kakashi would resort to exploiting it, then so would he. Fight fire with fire, as they say. Naruto slowly stood up and looked at his watch. And saw he had enough time to do something before he had to begin the day's training with Akira. Naruto turned to Kurenai and took her hand.

"Want to go to the park?"

Kurenai smiled. In a sense, this was their first 'date' since they had started going out, and it was at the same place as the first one.

"Sure."

Naruto and Kurenai walked off towards Konoha Central Park to enjoy their last hour or so together for the day.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& **

**The Park:**

Naruto and Kurenai walked through the park, admiring the early morning sunlight glittering off the pond's surface as they sat on one of the park benches.

"Reminds you of our first time, doesn't it?"

Naruto nodded in agreement. This was the exact same bench they had sat on for their first date. Naruto put a hand on her thigh, while she placed a hand over the top of his. They sat there in contented silence as several people occasionally walked passed them. Some of them were going for a morning jog before work, while others were simply admiring the scenery. They sat there in silence for the better part of half an hour in a comfortable silence. Kurenai turned to Naruto as an idea came into her head as she pulled Naruto into a hug and whispered into his ear.

"Your birthday is coming up soon, right?"

Naruto nodded slowly. His 16th birthday was in just over a week.

"Have you planned anything yet?"

"Not yet…"

Kurenai nodded as a smile touched the corner of her lips.

"Keep the night free."

Naruto's eyebrows rose slightly, but he agreed.

"Sure thing, Kurenai-Chan."

Kurenai knew there was no one around, so she pulled down his mask and pashed him on the lips. Naruto responded by slipping his tongue into her mouth. After a several minute long tongue war, they pulled back before Naruto hugged her.

"I love you, Kurenai-Chan."

Kurenai kissed his temple and whispered in his ear.

"I love you too, Naru-Chan."

They sat there for another half an hour before Naruto untangled himself from her and gave her another kiss before standing up and pulling his mask back up.

"Sorry, Kurenai-Chan, but it's time for me to go."

Kurenai nodded as she stood up as well, giving Naruto one last hug before they went about their daily activities.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& **

**10th of October, Naruto's Apartment:**

Naruto had told Akira that tomorrow he could have a day off from training because it was his birthday. Akira had begged Naruto to be allowed to come, and so Naruto had relented, telling him to turn up around midday and had given him the address. Naruto was being awoken by the rays of sunlight streaming in through his window, so he turned over to get away from it. The only problem was that he was still catching the light in his eyes. Even in his semi sleeping state, Naruto knew something was off.

_'I don't have a window on that side of the room…'_

Naruto grumbled as he slowly opened his eyes a crack to see that there was no natural source of sunlight coming from the other side of the room. However, there was no window, nor a natural source of light. There was, however, a very annoying silver haired Jounin shining a flashlight in his eyes. Naruto growled.

"What the hell are you doing, Niisan?"

Kakashi flicked the light off and flipped it over before putting it away.

"Well, you did say you wanted a sleep in…"

"Then why are you waking me up?"

Even with Naruto's sleep blurred vision, he could see Kakashi smiling.

"Because it's almost noon."

Naruto's brain processed this for a moment before he looked at his bedside clock to see that it was 11:47. Naruto shot out of bed, covers flailing everywhere as he raced to put on some decent clothes.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"Sorry, but I had to help an old woman cross the road."

Naruto slapped his head as he pulled on a skin tight black undervest and some black pants. He was reaching for a semi formal shirt when Kakashi smiled.

"No need to be formal, it's just a gathering of friends."

Naruto looked at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow before putting the shirt back and sighed as he walked out of his room with Kakashi when he realised something. He didn't have his mask. He looked back to se Kakashi standing in front of his door with an innocent smile on his face, but Naruto could tell Kakashi knew exactly what he was doing. Naruto grumbled and stepped out into the living room to see that all of his friends, Senseis and even Akira was there. They looked around and all talk stopped when they saw Naruto's face. Naruto somehow felt completely naked without his mask on. He could see all of the girls in the room had hearts in their eyes while the boys looked green with envy. Asuma smirked.

"It's been a while since I've seen your face, Naruto."

Naruto smiled as he put a hand behind his head and laughed nervously. Naturally, having just a sleeveless skin tight vest on revealed his well toned muscles. Naruto looked at the girls who wore the same hungry expression to varying degrees. He smiled lazily.

"You girls do know I'm taken, right?"

Ino smirked.

"Doesn't mean we can't window shop."

All of the boys in the room sweat dropped. Kiba took particular interest in his facial features, specifically the whisker marks.

"No wonder Akamaru and I always thought you smelled like a fox, Naruto. Still, you could have pulled any girl you wanted with that face."

Naruto looked at Kiba and then Kurenai before looking back at Kiba.

"And I did just that."

Several of the Genin raised an eyebrow, making Naruto look at Ino.

"I thought you would have told the entire town by now, not to mention Gai-Sensei shouting it to the world…"

Realisation came to the few who didn't yet know and they looked at Kurenai with a look that clearly said 'damn you, I wanted him'. Naruto sighed as he took a seat net to Kurenai and gave her a kiss and a hug, which she returned before Naruto looked at the kitchen table to see a somewhat large mountain of presents sitting on it. Naruto looked at the presents in awe.

"I've never had so many before…"

Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"It's probably because you're at the age of consent. 16's a big deal."

Naruto scowled at the hidden meaning.

"Hentai."

Kakashi smiled and pulled out Icha Icha Tactics.

"Yup, and proud of it."

Everyone else in the room sweat dropped. Tsunade turned to Naruto before giving him a hug, smothering him in her ample cleavage, much to his and Kurenai's chagrin and everyone else amusement. She released him and his gasped for breath while Jiraiya chuckled.

"Death by cleavage."

Tsunade was about to smack him through the wall when Naruto sweat dropped.

"I'd rather not have a gaping hole in the wall thanks…"

Tsunade reined in her anger before straightening and pushing Naruto to the table, where everyone either took a seat or stood around. Tsunade smiled at Naruto.

"Go on, open them."

Naruto nodded and reached for the first one. He looked at the card to see it was from Tenten. He smiled at her as he opened it and saw two ornate wooden boxes. He raised an eyebrow as he opened one to reveal a professional whetstone sharpening set. His eyes lit up. He'd been meaning to get one for a while now. He closed it and opened the second box to reveal a set of 12 three pronged Hiraishin kunai without the tags. His eyes widened at this before he looked at Tenten.

"Tenten, how did you get these?"

Tenten smirked.

"Our family are Konoha's main blacksmiths, so your dad happened to leave the schematics for them with us when he used to get us to make them for him."

Naruto smiled.

"Thanks, Tenten. These things are damn hard to make and I've been meaning to get a professional whetstone set for a while now."

Tenten smiled.

"No problem."

Naruto put them to the side and went for the next one, which was from Hinata. He unwrapped it to reveal a beautifully lacquered set of chopsticks and a very ornate yellow china bowl with 'Ramen Connoisseur' printed on the side. Naruto looked at Hinata and smiled.

"It's beautiful. You made it yourself, didn't you?"

Hinata's eyes widened before she smiled.

"Hai."

Naruto took another look at it.

"You should seriously consider making more of these. They would sell out the second you put them on the shelves."

Hinata blushed at the compliment as Naruto put them with Tenten's present and went for the next one, which happened to be from Ino. It was somewhat tall and a rather unusual shape. Naruto pealed off the paper to reveal a plant from which bloomed a stunningly beautiful flower. The outer edges of its petals were cerulean blue while the insides were crimson red. Both colours bled into each other in the middle to form a vivid violet colour. Naruto looked astonished at this.

"From all the times I've been in your shop, Ino, I've never seen a flower like this…"

Ino smirked.

"Not surprising. I bred it myself just recently."

Naruto smiled at her.

"Thank you, it's beautiful."

Naruto placed it with his other presents and reached for the next one. It was long and rectangular. The card identified it as Shino's present. Naruto opened it to reveal a display frame of butterflies that had been meticulously pinned to the soft fabric while each of them had a nameplate besides them, identifying their common and scientific names. Half of them, Naruto didn't even recognise, even with his studies of the Fire Country's wildlife.

"Shino, where did you get these? I recognise some of them from other countries…"

Shino pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"Our clan may only use insects from the Fire Country for the purpose of warfare; however we try to keep our knowledge of the world's insect wildlife as up to date as possible."

Naruto smiled as he placed it carefully with his other presents.

"Thank you Shino."

"You are welcome."

Naruto reached for the next one and saw it was from Lee. Naruto was somewhat dreading that it might be one of those dreaded green spandex body suits, but unwrapped it anyway. He was shocked to see that it was actually a book called 'The Inner Gates and how to survive their effects for masters.' Naruto looked up at Lee and then back at the book when Tenten sighed and explained.

"It was annoying, but we finally managed to get Lee to drop the idea of giving you a green spandex body suit and give you something more fitting for a birthday present."

Lee looked downcast while Naruto smiled.

"Thanks Lee. Even with the Kyuubi's help, surviving the effects hurts like hell. This is really useful."

Lee smiled and gave his nice guy pose.

"You are most welcome, Naruto-Kun."

Naruto placed the book with the others and reached for the next one. This one was from Shizune and Tsunade. He opened it to see a pile of scrolls with all sorts of medical jutsus that were usually kept in Tsunade's personal library. He looked up at her in astonishment.

"You're giving these to me?"

Tsunade nodded.

"Although you have the Kyuubi's help to heal, it's not good to rely on its help all the time. These should help you with the non life threatening injuries."

Naruto smiled at her.

"Thanks sis, thanks mum."

Most of the people in the room sniggered at the pet names Naruto had given them. Naruto moved the scrolls over to the rest of them and reached for the next one, which was from Jiraiya. It was a book that much Naruto could tell.

"Do I really want to open this?"

Most people in the room laughed while Naruto sighed and opened it to confirm his worst suspicions. He slammed his head on the table before looking at Jiraiya in sheer anger and embarrassment.

"What the hell kind of a present is this, Ero-Sennin?"

Naruto showed it to Jiraiya, and consequently everyone else. Everyone felt the kind of fear reserved for when something very bad was about to happen.

"101 ways to please your wife in bed? HENTAI!"

Jiraiya laughed before producing another present from his pocket.

"That was only a joke."

No one seemed to think it was funny, so Jiraiya grumbled and handed Naruto the small box. Naruto gave it a dubious look before he opened it and narrowed his eyes. He reached into it and pulled out a circular golden locket and looked at Jiraiya questioningly.

"Open it."

Naruto shrugged and flicked the catch to open it. He froze when he saw what was inside and then started to tear up. Most people around the table were getting worried but were somewhat relieved when Naruto spoke.

"Thanks, Jiraiya… This means a lot to me…"

Jiraiya smiled.

"No problem, Naruto."

Everyone looked at Jiraiya who smiled slightly as Naruto read what was inside the locket.

"'We'll always love you son'… Thanks, dad…"

Everyone smiled as Naruto put the locket around his neck before smiling in deep thought for a moment. He reached for the next present to find it was from Kiba. Naruto pulled the paper off to reveal a scroll for the 'Tsuuga' technique. Naruto looked dumbfounded.

"You're giving me one of your clan jutsus?"

Kiba smirked.

"It'd be perfect for your fighting style once you go all out fox."

No matter which clan it was, giving a clan jutsu to an outsider was a very big deal.

"Kiba, are you sure?"

Kiba snorted.

"Mum said it was fine, so there's no problems."

Naruto nodded. Kiba's mother was the clan head, so her word according to the clan was as good as law.

"Thanks…"

Kiba smiled at Naruto's somewhat dumbfounded reply, but bit his tongue from giving one of his usual 'smart' replies. Naruto reached for the next one, which was from Neji. Naruto opened it and smiled. It was a book on the human Tenketsu and how to hit them with maximum effect with and without the Jyuken. Naruto smiled at Neji.

"Thanks, Neji. This will be really useful."

Neji smirked and closed his eyes.

"No problem."

Naruto put the book with the ever increasing pile of unwrapped presents. Next, he went for one that was from Gai. He felt the same wave of foreboding washing over him from when he was about to open Lee's present, but opened it anyway. He practically choked when he saw what it was.

"How to use the Genjutsu that no one can explain? Wow, thanks Gai-Sensei."

Kurenai gave the scroll a hungry look while the other's eyes widened.

"You mean that Genjutsu with the sunset and crashing waves?"

Gai nodded.

"Indeed. Only those in the springtime of youth are able to master such a youthful jutsu."

Everyone was suddenly eying the scroll very intently, and Naruto made sure to put it into his pocket so that it didn't grow legs and take a walk. There were only several presents left that remained wrapped, so Naruto reached for another one which was from Asuma. He opened it to reveal an ornate box much like the two Tenten had given him. He opened it and smiled. Inside was a pair of master's trench knives, which was a sign that he was now a master of trench knife combat. He took them out and looked over the masterful craftsmanship before smiling at Asuma.

"Thanks, Asuma-Sensei."

"No problem, Naruto."

Naruto placed the knives back in the box and reached for the next one which was from Shikamaru. He opened it and was pleasantly surprised to find a ninja themed chess set. He looked over the pieces. The King was the Fire Country's Daimyo, while the Queen was obviously the Hokage, partly because it was the most powerful piece on the board, but also because it was a very well done piece of Tsunade. The Bishops were to Naruto's surprise, were himself and Kurenai, while the Knights were Asuma and Kakashi. The Rooks were not surprisingly Lee and Gai, while the pawns were wisely unmarked. The black pieces were no surprise either. The King was Orochimaru while the Queen was Sasuke. The Bishops, Knights and Rooks were all of the known members of Akatsuki, which Naruto guessed Shikamaru had gotten the information from Jiraiya. Naruto smiled at Shikamaru.

"This is great, Shikamaru. I assume you made this yourself?"

Shikamaru nodded.

"Yeah. It was troublesome, but my mother wouldn't stop nagging me until I completed it."

Everyone shared a laugh at Shikamaru's expense, which he didn't mind in the least. Naruto put the pieces away and placed it with the other presents. He reached for the one Chouji had given him. It was remarkably small, but Naruto knew good things came in small packages. He opened it to confirm the thought. A year's pass to three bowls of ramen a week from Ichiraku's and three plates of meat a week from their favourite barbeque restaurant. Naruto smiled at his 'big boned' team mate.

"Thanks, Chouji. I'll have to invite you to help me out with using these up. I won't be able to do it myself."

Chouji gave Naruto his clan's trademark friendly smile.

"No problem, Naruto."

Naruto reached for another one. This one was from Akira. He smiled at his apprentice as he opened it and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Special Nindo Ramen? Akira, this stuff is extremely rare! Thanks!"

Akira smirked.

"You're welcome, Sensei."

Now, there was only one present left on the table, however, two people had not given him presents yet. He took the last one and saw it was from Kakashi. It was a very small gift, so he unwrapped it to find a key. He raised a single eyebrow. Simple presents like this from his older brother usually had a hidden meaning. He thought about it for a moment before he realised what it meant and he lunged at his older brother.

"Thanks, Niisan!"

Kakashi smiled as Naruto got off him, and tried to regain some of the dignity he had before being tackled to the ground.

"No problem, Otouto. Welcome to the man's world."

Naruto smiled. This wasn't just a key to a lock; it was also the metaphorical key to leaving his childhood behind and becoming an adult. Naruto set the key down and looked at Kurenai who was smirking at him.

"I'm giving you my present tonight, Naruto."

Most of the people's eyebrows in the room rose but they said nothing. Naruto looked at everyone and smiled.

"Thanks, this means a lot to me."

They all dismissed it in their own ways. Tsunade looked at Naruto.

"It's about time for the festival, and despite what others may want; you are **not** going like that."

Naruto grinned sheepishly while the majority of girls in the room groaned in disappointment. Tsunade pulled Naruto forcefully to his room, much to everyone's amusement, while she told them to get ready themselves.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& **

**A/N:** Ooooooo! I bet you're wondering what Kurenai's 'present' is, aren't you? Well, you'll find out next chapter. I'll talk to you guys later.

Ja na,

Specula.


	4. Birthday, Part 2

**A/N:** Oh my god, it's been like forever and a half since I updated, so first and foremost, sorry to everyone who my stories were a lifeline for who screamed out 'I NEED SPEC'S FICS!' I didn't mean to deprive you of your heroin. Anyway, the truth is that I really didn't want to admit that Fanfiction authoring was sort of a passing phase for me. I'm still writing various random scenes and whatnot on my computer, but I have a great deal of trouble putting passion into something that I have been for a year. Strange, but that's the way it seems to be for me, which is annoying, not just for me, but you guys as well when I start an epic length saga and after a year say 'I really can't be bothered anymore'. Anyway, I'll try and get back into it, but for the most part, I'll probably end up just sort of hanging around this site. Oh, and a lot of people have asked me for input and critique on their ideas for their stories, so if you've got an idea for a story and want my opinion on it, feel free to ask. Remember though, I'm a very staunch member of the anti plot hole and unbelievable storyline organisation, so if I see something that could be improved, I'll give constructive criticism on how it could be fixed. So if people disagreeing with you, even in your best interests bends you out of shape, it may be best to leave it. Anyway, here's your next fix.

As a final warning, this chapter will contain… Lemony goodness! Hurray! Anyway, like I used to do it, full version will be on Media Miner and the censored version will be on Fan Fiction. Also, this chapter was completed to the point near the end of the lemon, so especially for those reading the censored version, please tell me if you notice any slight, or indeed massive changes of any of the character's personalities before and afterwards.

And now, for the next chapter of Rubies and Sapphires Book 2. Enjoy everyone.

Legend:

_'...Human or Lesser Summon Thinking/Small A/N...'_

_**'...Demon or Summon Boss Thinking...'**_

"...Human or Lesser Summon Talking..."

"**...Demon or Summon Boss Talking..."**

"...SHOUTING/TWO OR MORE PEOPLE SAYING THE SAME THING/CASTING THE SAME JUTSU..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&...Scene Change...&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Rubies & Sapphires Book 2: Onyx & Citrine:

Chapter Four:

Birthday, Part 2:

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**Shortly Afterwards:**

Everyone had gone home to get their ceremonial kimonos to go to the festival. Naruto returned to his room somewhat unwillingly dragged there by Tsunade, who stood in front of the doorway imposingly, stopping any plans of escape that might enter his mind in their tracks.

"You are going to go in a kimono, regardless of whether or not you want to."

It was a somewhat well known fact among his inner circle of friends that Naruto hated wearing kimonos. Naruto sullenly trudged into his room, closing the door behind him, mumbling his reply.

"Sure thing, Okasan…"

He opened the closet door and began searching his formal ware. He ripped through them, finally settling on a mainly cerulean blue kimono with canary yellow trimming. He kept his undershirt and pants on, placing the kimono over his shoulders and tightening it around the waist. Kakashi chuckled from the doorway, catching his attention in his grey kimono with black lining. Kakashi whistled at Naruto.

"Not bad, Otouto. You sure you won't be lynched by mobs of fan girls?"

Naruto chuckled, smiling lazily at Kakashi.

"Nah. When they see me with Kurenai, they'll be cursing themselves."

Kakashi snorted and left the room, calling back to him.

"Come on, Naruto."

Naruto checked himself one last time in the mirror before placing his mask on and leaving with Kakashi to pick up Kurenai, seeing that Tsunade had already left to prepare herself.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

**Kurenai's Apartment:**

Kurenai had just finished putting on her red Kimono with black lining when her door bell rang. She immediately sensed Naruto's chakra and came to the door, opening it to find everyone's favourite blond smiling lazily at her. She pouted playfully at him.

"Did you have to ware your mask, Naru-Chan? You look so much cuter without it."

Naruto hugged her, whispering in her ear.

"I only show it to those who are most important to me. Like you, Kurenai-Chan."

Kurenai smiled and drew back, noticing Naruto was still holding onto her hand. She nodded at him and they walked down the stairs. Once they got outside, they saw Kakashi being mobbed by a group of fan girls. Everyone stopped when Naruto and Kurenai walked out the door, hand in hand. Every single girl sent Kurenai death glares, making her smirk and continue passed them. The girls, no longer having any reason to pester Kakashi, grumbled and left. Kakashi slowly caught up to Naruto and Kurenai, looking slightly the worse for ware. Naruto smiled at his older brother as they walked the final few streets towards the festival.

"Thanks for covering for me, Niisan."

Kakashi sighed and trudged on with them.

"No problem…"

Before they got to the end of the street, they met up with Shino and Hinata. Naruto's eyes popped out of his head when he saw them. Shino had abandoned the trench coat, keeping only the goggles. While sightings of Shino's face were rare, they still happened from time to time. However, no one bar his own family and possibly Hinata had seen his eyes from any better than a 90 degree angle. Hinata wore a pure white kimono with lavender linings, while Shino wore a black with white linings. Naruto smiled lazily at the pair.

"Yo! Hinata, Shino! You two look sharp. Despite the fact that it helps your bugs maintain a stable environment, Shino, you should wear less clothing. Hinata, you look gorgeous."

Shino nodded at the acknowledgment. Hinata blushed slightly at the compliment and smiled at Naruto.

"You and Kurenai-Sensei look wonderful, Naruto-Kun…"

Naruto looked at Shino, a smirk coming onto his face. Shino could guess what Naruto was wondering about.

"I do not wear eye protection for the same reason you wear you mask, Naruto. I can assure you, my eyes are quite normal for an Aburame's. A side effect of our clan's abilities is very weak eye pigment."

Naruto nodded. So, to beat an Aburame, just knock off their glasses during daylight times to make them go blind. That would make sense. Naruto smiled lazily and nodded towards the festival.

"Shall we?"

The other 4 agreed, and began walking towards the festival. There, they saw the majority of their other friends mulling around in pairs or by themselves. Neji was wearing a similar kimono to Hinata, and was with Tenten, who was wearing a navy blue kimono with red lining. Ino was with Chouji. Chouji was wearing a red kimono with brown lining. This strange colour combination seemed to actually work with Chouji, considering his eye and hair colour and what he normally wore. Ino was wearing a violet kimono with canary yellow lining. Even Temari was here with Shikamaru. The group steadily grew to encompass Kiba with his date. Akamaru padded along beside them. After Lee joined them with a rather pretty blue haired girl who Lee introduced as Ame, they walked around the final street corner that led to the main street of the festival. People stared at the group as they went passed, especially Naruto and Kurenai. Naruto had never come to the festival before, except when he was young. Now that he was far older, they didn't recognise him. Up ahead, they saw both Jiraiya and Tsunade together. Tsunade was clearly not enjoying it; however, Jiraiya seemed to love every second of it. When Tsunade spotted Naruto, she rushed over and looked at him with severe urgency.

"Naruto, I need to talk to you for a moment. This is serious."

Everyone looked at Naruto, who shrugged and nodded.

"Sure."

Naruto followed Tsunade over to Jiraiya and they found themselves a quiet little area which they made sure was away from prying eyes and ears, before Jiraiya spoke.

"Naruto, someone has leaked information into the village that Yondaime had an heir sometime since you competed in the finals. We've managed to confirm that the leak was not from an external source."

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Meaning someone from this village…"

Tsunade nodded.

"Who knows?"

Naruto thought about it…

"From this village apart from us; only Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Jiraiya and Gai know of the truth. I know none of them would leak the secret, even if tortured."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed further.

"Are you saying people from outside the village know?"

Naruto nodded.

"Besides the obvious nine, there is Orochimaru and Sasuke. The only other person who knows is Unryu Itachi, and I know he's completely trustworthy."

Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples as she felt a migraine coming on.

"We're still going to have to reveal it. People will riot if it's left like this…"

Naruto growled, but controlled his anger.

"I wanted to reveal this when I was ready. I refuse to do it unless you have genetic evidence to support me. It's bad enough that people think I'm the Kyuubi, but if that was released, Konoha wouldn't be standing by sunrise tomorrow."

Tsunade nodded, pulling out an official copy of Naruto's official birth certificate. An official Birth Certificate was undisputable proof of who your parents were. Any changes to it would be noticeable if studied by a professional. Naruto nodded.

"Fine. I don't like this though… It's like whoever leaked the info wanted us to do this…"

Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

"They may have wanted us to do this, but we have no choice to play along for now."

Naruto nodded, anxious to rejoin his friends.

"Well, give me a heads up when you're going to do it. I assume it will be today during the festival?"

Tsunade nodded and hugged Naruto.

"Don't worry."

All three of them walked back out into the festival, rejoining with their friends as they went passed the lines of stalls selling all sorts of foods and goodies, prizes and gifts. Naruto saw a cotton candy store and took Kurenai's hand, walking over to it. Naruto walked up to the guy who smiled at them.

"What can I get you today?"

Naruto saw that the man offered half and half fairy flosses, and looked at the startling selection.

"Could I get a large half and half blueberry and raspberry, please?"

The man nodded and began preparing them. Kurenai smirked at Naruto's choice.

"You really know the way into a woman's heart, Naruto."

Naruto smiled as the man served it up.

"200 Ryou, thanks."

Naruto nodded and handed the coins over, taking the giant ball of confectionary and moved back over to their friends. Kurenai was busy eating the blueberry side while Naruto was eating the raspberry side while managing to make it look as if he wasn't eating at all, besides the fact that there were chunks disappearing out of Naruto's half and he was chewing. One or two at a time, the pairs split off when one store or another took their fancy and rejoined the group when they were finished. According to the programme he had picked up at the start of the festival, it was almost time for the Hokage's speech. Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing as they headed towards the town square where there was a small stage and a podium in the middle of it. At the moment, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi were the only ones up there.

"So that's where he ran off to…"

Naruto smirked at Kiba's musings.

"At least he wasn't visiting Obito again…"

Everyone apart from Kurenai looked at Naruto for an explanation.

"Who's Obito?"

Kurenai answered for Naruto.

"Kakashi's former team mate, Uchiha Obito. Unfortunately, he was killed during the war with Iwa."

Naruto nodded, sighing.

"I always wanted to meet him… He sounded like a decent guy…"

Their conversation was stopped by Tsunade, who took to the podium and addressed the ever growing crowd.

"Thank you people of Konoha for coming on this fine day to celebrate the sacrifice of one of our greatest heroes to allow us to continue living. Firstly, some of you may have heard a rumour being passed around that the Yondaime has a living heir. I wish to clear this up now."

There was murmuring among the crowd, which died down as Tsunade pulled out the official copy of Naruto's birth certificate.

"I have researched extensively as to who it could possibly be. I managed to find one of our own Jounins fit the match, both in birth certificate and DNA profiling. He is with us now."

Everyone began shouting, demanding to know the answer, Tsunade held up a hand, which quickly quietened them.

"That man is Uzumaki Naruto."

All eyes turned to Naruto who was fighting extremely hard to keep a somewhat straight face. Naruto smiled and called out to Tsunade.

"So, can I adopt my real surname now? I'm powerful enough to defend myself from assassination attempts, right?"

Everyone was silent for a second before general mayhem broke out. Some started screaming, demanding reasons as to why this was kept a secret, while others were screaming for his blood. Naruto sighed and pulled out the locket he had gotten not 2 hours ago from Jiraiya, flipping it open to reveal a picture of a very worn out, but ever happy Arashi with his wife holding a child with a mop of blond hair and blue eyes. The only thing different was the fact that the Kyuubi had not been sealed within Naruto just yet, so he was missing the trio of slash marks down each cheek.

"I wonder what dad would say now…"

Naruto held the locket up for everyone to see, making them stop in their tracks. Everyone's eyes widened at the locket, or more specifically, its picture and message. Naruto snapped it shut and hung it around his neck as he looked up at them.

"The fact that I can perform Hiraishin should prove that. Only a Kazama can do it, one of our bloodline jutsus. Those that saw me at the Jounin Exam Finals can attest that I did indeed use it, multiple times."

People started backing down at several people's agreement with Naruto's statement. Naruto mentally sighed in relief. He expected this entire village to be on fire about this time. Some people still had their doubts, such as an old man who chose that moment to cry out at him.

"There's no way he could be Yondaime-Sama's son! He's the damn demon!"

The ANBU moved to cut him off when Naruto stopped them as he looked directly at the man.

"Firstly, I have to congratulate you on speaking of an S class secret in public, one I was asked to protect by Sandaime himself, using any force necessary to keep it a secret, meaning I am allowed to kill you here and now. However, let's go with that hypothetical. Let's say I am the Kyuubi no Yoko reincarnated. Why am I not killing you or anyone here right now? I am capable of pulling out enough power to destroy the entire Fire Country and probably more, as well as being reborn as my 'true self'. In fact, I have never killed a person of Konoha before. Nor do I intend to. I have had the opportunity, as well as the law on my side to do so on several occasions, yet I did not take any of the opportunities. Also, if I was a demon, I would rape any female that took my fancy at the time. I have never considered anything of the sort, let alone commit acts of disloyalty to my girlfriend, despite the in numerous girls who like to throw themselves at me wherever I go. Demons value nothing but their own lives. Everyone else is expendable. I have never thought of any of my 'allies' regularly known as friends in that manner. In fact, apart from the Jounin Exam finals where I fought another like myself, I have never used the fox's power except to protect a friend in danger. Name me one single demon who would do all of that and I'll admit I am the 'damn fox', as well as let you kill me."

The man could say nothing. He had just been chewed out in front of probably all of Konoha by a boy 50 years his junior. He opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to come up with an answer, but failed miserably. Naruto sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm what is officially known as a Jinchuriki, however, I dislike that term as much as Chouji dislikes being called fat. I keep the demon at bay through force of will. If I doubt my own strength, the Kyuubi will start taking over my body. I've known about who my father was for over 11 years. However, I was forbidden to say so for fear of assassination attempts from Iwa or Kumo in retribution to the Yondaime's actions in the wars with them. If they had either failed or succeeded in killing me, it would have lead to the next Hidden Shinobi War. If the war had started, it was probable that the majority of villages would join forces against us. Konoha had little to no chance of surviving. I'm sorry for deceiving everyone for so long, but it was necessary for all of our safety…"

There was silence for quite some time before Kiba smirked.

"I don't care who your parents were or what you are, you're still Naruto, our favourite lazy blond genius."

Naruto smiled as his friends quickly agreed with Kiba's statement. Kurenai pulled Naruto's mask down and gave him a kiss on the lips. She drew back after no more than 15 seconds, hugging him, which he returned.

"You know I will always love you. It didn't change when I knew before, it won't change now."

Naruto smiled and hugged her.

"Thank you, Kurenai-Chan."

Although few regarded him with the respect the Yondaime had asked for yet, many of them no longer just accepted the fact that Naruto was 'just another Jounin' of Konoha, but something more. Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly at the attention.

"I'm nothing special, really…"

If anything, that made people stare at him even more. Naruto looked at them and shrugged.

"If you want me to perform Hiraishin or something as proof, just ask. But please don't keep staring at me like that… It's unnerving…"

People for a lack of somewhere to look stared at the ground. However, one small child at the front looked up and smiled widely.

"What's Hiraishin?"

The mother of the boy was about to scold him when Naruto chuckled.

"Decent question. Hiraishin is a jutsu that lets me move at the speed of light."

The boy's eyes widened and he started jumping up and down.

"Do it!"

Naruto smiled and pulled out one of the three pronged kunai.

"Sure thing. Only problem is, I don't have anywhere to throw this…"

And with that, people created a path for him straight down the middle of the crowd. Naruto smiled lazily and started twirling the kunai on a finger.

"Thank you."

Naruto hurled the kunai down the aisle and felt himself being dragged towards it. Once it hit the ground, Naruto activated the jutsu and flashed straight through the crowd, leaving a yellow streak behind him. Everyone gasped at the sight, seeing him reappear next to the kunai, which he picked up and pocketed, turning around to smile at everyone again. Naruto walked back over to his friends who either stared at him in astonishment, or in the case of Shikamaru sighed.

"Mendokusei…"

Pretty much everyone agreed with him there. Naruto sighed, still being the centre of attention.

"I never thought being the centre of attention would be this uncomfortable… Tsunade, can you start talking again of something?"

Naruto's friends smirked, snorted or chuckled at his antics. Tsunade coughed, catching most people's attention.

"Now that is out of the way, I would like several people who knew the Yondaime well, such as his Jounin Sensei and his last student to speak of him."

Tsunade left the podium and took the seat between Jiraiya and Kakashi. Jiraiya got up and took the podium. Jiraiya was never one for public speeches, and now was no different. The only reason he didn't stumble over his own words was he had the speech prewritten. After Jiraiya finished, Kakashi lazily got up and said a few choice words about his Sensei and what he had done for his Genin team as well as for Konoha. When Kakashi had finished his speech, numerous people turned to Naruto, obviously expecting something. Others quickly joined him, and once again Naruto was the centre of attention. Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"I never really got to meet him… He died less than an hour after I was born…"

Everyone looked away, obviously embarrassed from making such a tactless silent request. Apparently, that was all that was going to be said, as people started breaking away in groups or pairs to spend time with their friends. Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Kakashi there, smiling at him.

"You always did have a way with words, Otouto."

Naruto shrugged.

"But it's true…"

Lee slapped Naruto on the back, making the blond stumble.

"Naruto-Kun, some people have truly left their youth behind, and have clouded their vision with hate."

Naruto smiled lazily at Lee as they bid each other farewell and split up into smaller groups as they headed in the general directions of their homes.

"Thanks, Lee."

Just then, Naruto remembered the key Kakashi had given him. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at it. It was defiantly a key to a door of some kind, as it was too large to fit a padlock. Lee split of to go to his own apartment, leaving just Naruto, Kakashi and Kurenai to walk the final few blocks to their apartments. Kurenai tugged Naruto's hand towards her door.

"My present's upstairs, Naru-Chan."

Kakashi grinned at them and began walking of, calling to Naruto over his back.

"Remember, Otouto. Never have a Knight with an unprotected weapon."

Kakashi used body flicker to disappear straight after he said it, leaving Naruto and Kurenai to figure out what he had meant. After several seconds, it clicked. Naruto realised first and blushed heavily. Kurenai saw this and caught onto the meaning. Never have sex without protection. Kurenai's face twisted into a scowl as she debated whether to find Kakashi and crucify him or to leave it for now and do what she originally intended. Naruto shook his head to clear the overloading amount of perverted thoughts flying though his head and turned to his girlfriend.

"Kurenai-Chan, just forget about him. He's way too perverted for his own good."

Kurenai sighed, looking upwards to her room. Kakashi's words struck a little to close to home for comfort.

"Indeed. Well, let's go."

Naruto nodded and took her hand again as they unlocked the front door and walked up the two flights of stairs to Kurenai's apartment. Once inside, Naruto noticed a rather aromatic smell permeating the entire apartment. He also noticed the curtains were drawn and the lights were on low. What really caught his attention was that the table usually in the middle of the room was pushed to the side and a massage table was now in its place. On the table next to it was an assortment of massage oils. Naruto suddenly got a very good idea of what his 'birthday present' was going to be.

"Kurenai-Chan… Are we ready for this yet?"

Kurenai smiled and wrapped her arms around Naruto's stomach from behind.

"If you think we're ready for it."

Naruto thought about it for a moment. Was he ready? Sure, he loved her more than anything, but he definitely didn't want to jump straight off the deep end.

"Are you using contraception?"

Kurenai nodded, rubbing her cheek with his. Naruto decided to let things play out and took off his Kimono, folding it out of habit and putting it on the couch. He heard Kurenai chuckle behind him as he did this, making him turn around and raise an eyebrow. She waved it off, shaking her head before pointing to the table.

"It's very unusual for men to do something like that. Please take off everything except your boxers."

Naruto nodded and took off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his orange boxers. Kurenai undid the sash of her kimono to reveal nothing but a black stain bra and panties. Naruto couldn't help himself and just stared at her gorgeous body. He knew she was well endowed, but not to this extent. She was very easily a double D cup. She also seemed to be admiring his body. Kurenai smiled slyly and walked up to him in a seductive manner, sashaying her hips with each step and placed a palm on his chest, over his heart. Naruto shivered under her touch, making her smile and hug him, pressing her body flush with his. Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled down his mask, leaning in for a kiss. He felt her tongue invade his mouth, making a heavy blush touch his face. She could feel the bulge in his boxers, straining to be released. She slowly pushed him back onto the massage table, placing a hand on his stomach, which made him shiver violently. His stomach had always been a very sensitive area to another's touch. Kurenai leaned down next to him and whispered into hi ear.

"Not surprising it's so sensitive. Now, turn over. I'm going to show you what females could be taught during the special 'kunoichi' only lessons. If you're wondering, I've never had to use them before."

Naruto nodded and turned over. The 'kunoichi only' lessons were completely optional, and were aimed at teaching the females if they wanted how to be able to get close to their targets with things like massaging, and for the more… Adventurous ones, sexual techniques before the regular training took over and they could dispose of them. He could hear Kurenai take one of the massage oils of the table next to her and unscrew the lid. He heard her rubbing her hands together before placing them on his upper back and began rubbing her hands across his muscles, working the stress out of them. She smiled slightly.

"You're upper back muscles are slightly tense."

Naruto half sighed, half grunted as he felt the massage oil begin seeping into his skin and a balm in it temporarily ignited his muscles on fire before leaving them with a soft tingling. Somehow, she was working his muscles in a way that used minimal pressure, but still felt as if she was pressing her full weight into them. After just over a minute, Kurenai started work on his middle and lower back.

"You're middle back is somewhat tense. Your lower back's muscles are very tense."

Naruto let out another half sigh, half grunt as Kurenai began working with the oil on his middle and lower back. He could feel the oil beginning to seep into his pores and then his muscles as Kurenai continued to work. Naruto half expected her to pull his boxers down and start work there, but she skipped it and went straight to his thighs. She stoped when she placed her hands on it.

"My god, Naru-Chan. What are you doing to your legs? These muscles are practically locked in place…"

Come to think of it, his leg muscles had always been the worst for wear when he did either a harsh day of training or was on the short end of the stick in a fight. Personally, he put it down to his weights.

"Probably my weights…"

Kurenai smiled as she took her hands back and wiped them on a piece of cloth. Naruto heard her resealing the lid and opening another one. He heard her rubbing her hands together again before reapplying them to his legs. He stiffened sightly as he felt the balm sear his skin and muscles, but relaxed as Kurenai began working it in. He had to admit, he was kind of thankful they offered to teach this sort of thing to females in the Academy. Kurenai moved down to his lower legs and began working on them. Naruto could feel the constant dull ache in his legs begin to disappear as Kurenai kneaded the muscles. After Kurenai finished of there, she went back up to the arms. Starting with the left arm, she began working with the upper part first and worked her way down t the forearm. She started on the other arm, taking her time to finish it. Naruto felt her hands leave him.

"Naru-Chan, turn over so I can do the front."

Naruto turned his boy over and got the shock of his life. Kurenai had at some point abandoned her bra and panties, leaving Naruto with a perfect view of her completely unclothed body. Despite his best efforts, he got a nosebleed making Kurenai smirk and place a hand on his chest above his rapidly beating heart.

"The great Kazama Naruto, who fears no one and nothing gets wound up over seeing his girlfriend naked? I'm flattered, really."

A/N: The lemon scene following was censored. If you really want to see it, check my media miner account.

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**About Two Hours Later:**

Naruto slowly began to rouse form his sleep, the sound of crickets outside slowly bringing him back to consciousness. What he first noticed was the feeling of a body next to him in his arms, the events of the day came back to him, making him smile and gently encircle Kurenai in his arms. She let out a slight moan, obviously enjoying the touch as she rested her head against his chest, still asleep. Naruto looked at the clock, noticing it was just after 3 pm. Slowly, he felt Kurenai begin to stir too, slowly opening and blinking her eyes, smiling as she caught sight of Naruto, hugging into his chest.

"Sleep well, Naru-Chan?"

Naruto nodded slightly, leaning his chin on top of her head.

"Yeah. What about you?"

She smiled and nodded slightly as Naruto again looked up at the clock.

"Do you want to stay here or get ready to go back out to the festival?"

Kurenai turned over and looked at the clock pondering for a few moments.

"I don't mind either way."

Naruto was of exactly the same opinion, as such, both were still indecisive.

"I was going to say the same thing…"

Kurenai simply turned back around and hugged him.

"Then would you like to stay here for a while longer? The festival doesn't stop until about 11 pm tonight."

Naruto shrugged and nodded.

"Sounds good to me…"

Kurenai looked down at Naruto's body, shaking her head slightly, her obsidian hair brushing over Naruto's chest as she did.

"I still can't get over how big you are…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked down, smiling sheepishly.

"Big? What do you mean?"

Kurenai traced a finger down his stomach and over the focus of her attention, making Naruto shiver.

"Most men are between five and a half and six and a half inches fully erect…"

Naruto smiled slightly and kissed the top of her forehead.

"What can I say? I aim to please."

Kurenai smirked and looked up into his eyes, leaning in to kiss him which he returned before they parted lips, both sets tugging slightly on the other as they left.

"And I don't just mean how well endowed you are downstairs either… You've gotten so tall and so much more hansom than when you were younger… That and your maturity for your age is amazing…"

Kurenai snuggled up closer to him and smiled.

"If this is a dream, I really don't want to wake up…"

Naruto nodded slightly before what his lover had just said set off a flashback to that morning and the dream he'd been woken from, making him blush and get a slight perverted grin over his face, again resting his chin on her head so she didn't see it.

"Neither would I. This is a little too enjoyable to just wake up from."

Both of them lay there, chatting softly to each other until it reached four in the afternoon and they both begrudgingly separated, taking a shower each so as to avoid getting into the same situation that required them to take one in the first place, getting dressed and heading back out and towards the main street where the festivities were still in full swing. Arm in arm, they walked back, drawing scores of stares from everyone. Most were focused on Naruto, be it because of the revelations earlier in the day or in the case of a number of females, a very badly masked look of hunger while a number of males looked at him in envy. Kurenai drew a fair number of stares as well. However, that was broken when one Jounin approached Naruto with a smile on his face.

"Sorry for doubting you Naruto. I worked closely with your old man in the Iwa war, so I'm glad to see his son's still alive and kicking. I think you're dad would be really proud to see you like this now."

Naruto smiled as he nodded taking the Jounin's extended hand.

"Thanks. Sorry for deceiving you about my heritage though…"

He shook his head as they let go.

"Like you said, it was in all of our best interests. That takes a hell of a lot more determination than simply blurting it to the world at the first chance you get…"

Naruto nodded as the man chuckled and stepped aside.

"Didn't mean to hold you up though. Take care and I'll see you around."

Naruto nodded slightly.

"By the way, I didn't get your name."

The man's eyes widened as he snorted.

"Trust me forget to introduce myself. The name's Beshikou."

Naruto nodded.

"Well then, hope to talk to you soon, Beshikou. Take care."

He nodded.

"You too."

Naruto and Kurenai left as Beshikou smirked at their backs making Naruto freeze when he heard something that sounded all too familiar as Beshikou turned and began walking.

"Nice catch."

Naruto turned around, apparently being the only one to hear it, making him sigh when Kurenai looked at him questioningly.

"Something wrong?"

He shook his head and they continued walking through the festival, a smile spreading over his face.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

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**A/N:** Woo hoo! Next chapter down. Again, sorry to the Fanfiction people for the relatively shorter chapter, but rules are rules, I suppose. As always, comments, critique, suggestions, flames, abuse, all of them are welcome. And by the way, flames, trolls and general abuse is something I feed off now, so the more the better. Take care everyone and hoped you enjoyed it.

Specua/Synica.


	5. Dear Readers

Dear readers,

I'm sure you can guess what this is about, and for those of you who haven't, I'm putting up my pen, or authoring on this site as you will, for good. No, it's not because I hate you guys and want to coat you all in molten lead because you're all horrible people and a lousy audience nor is it because I'm too busy in real life.

I think my time has come to move on. I'm a lofty spirit who never drops his anchor in any one port for a great deal of time, and this includes the port known as Fanfiction. The pattern in this particular part of my life seems to be that I'll stay in one area I like for a while, leave and then make a very brief reappearance later and then leave soon after, pretty much for good. I've been here for a while, left, come back for a bit and now it's time for me to move on for good.

I know this is going to annoy a lot of people to high hell and back, so send me all your hatemail or rants or thanks or whatever, sorry ladies and gents, but I'm exiting stage left.

Hopefully, my stories have at least entertained a fair few people. I'll still answer PMs occasionally, however if you ask me something along the lines of 'are you ever coming back?' your reply will be…

gentle breeze and crickets

In other words, none because I'm not there anymore. Anyway, I'll still come here to read, but my time in writing here is done.

My stories, complete or not will still be up here, but if there's an update to them, I seriously doubt it's mine and I have to find out how someone got my account name and password…

I suppose I should impart some final words of wisdom or something…

Always take the road less travelled, for in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity, so why not go out on a limb? That's where all the fruit is.

Take care folks and happy writing and reading!

-Specula-Synica.

EDIT: I forgot to add something pretty important: If you want to try and adopt the stories and go your way with them, go for it. A few people have asked to continue them, and many want them continued so go for it. Just don't say the story idea and all of it's yours and whatnot, or I will have to hunt you down with sharp, pointy objects. There will be stabbity death, and not the good sort either. You will not like it.

Also, thanks in advance for you reviews and PMs. I may not respond to them, but I will read them, hateful or otherwise.


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